My Devoir
by little.starrie
Summary: Yuuki never became human and stayed as a pureblood. As she slowly enters the vampire's society, she's getting confused with her duties and relationships with other vampires—especially Kaname... Full summary inside. Pairing: Kaname x Yuuki [7/22/13-UNDER CONSTRUCTION, EDITING ALL CHAPTERS]
1. Night of Tragedy

Hello everybody^^! This is my first time writing a story about Vampire Knight, so I hope to make new friends, and you, readers, will enjoy my story!

** The word "devoir" in this story means duty **

Full Summary: Kuran Yuuki never became human and stayed as a pureblood. She never went under the care of Cross Kaien, so she did not grow-up with Kiryu Zero. She fears and hates her uncle, Rido, for killing her parents. As she slowly enters the vampire's society, reality hits her hard and challenges the duties she has to fulfill. She's also getting confused with her relationships with other vampires (Night Class)—especially her brother and fiancé, Kaname. Can she survive and succeed?

Basically this story is my perspective of how Yuuki's life would have been if she stayed as a pureblood and faced the obstacles as she slowly meanders in the world of vampires. The story will focus on the vampires' side more, but the idea/concept of "humans and vampires living together peacefully" will still exist. Therefore, Headmaster Cross and Zero will make their appearances in the story but Yuuki won't meet them until much later in her adolescent years.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight—Hino Matsuri does.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Night of Tragedy**

**.**

**.**

It was snowing lightly outside the safe household of the Kuran family. Inside the Kuran's mansion, it was very warm with the odor of woods being burned at the blazing fireplace in the living room. One would expect that the Kurans would be cuddling together near the fireplace or reading their favorite books together on the sofa at this hour, but instead, they were spending quality time in a windowless basement.

Why was that? It was because of Yuuki.

Yuuki was the one and only beloved daughter of the purebloods Kuran Haruka and Juuri. In the vampire society, purebloods were the most powerful for their blood didn't contain a drop of human's blood—making their blood the purest and rarest of all vampires. Therefore naturally, purebloods were highly respected and envied at the same time.

There were greedy vampires out there who wanted to get a taste of Kuran's thick blood and gain more power from drinking it—which was common as it was always about power and rank in the world—vampire's or human's. People would do unthinkable and malicious acts to get what they wanted.

Yuuki wasn't ready to enter into this cruel world; she was still a naïve and vulnerable child. That was why her parents decided to hide her from their society until she was older and stronger. It was a selfish thing to do as parents, but they loved her so much and wanted to protect her no matter what, diligently making sure that almost every vampire in their society ignorant of Yuuki's existence… although, there were some rumors...

Today was December 26th, the day after Christmas for the humans. Even though they didn't celebrate Christmas, Juuri thought exchanging presents to one another would be fun and a great time to bond with the family.

"Arigato Otou-sama!" little five-year-old Yuuki hugged her father affectionately and smiled cutely. She loved every present she received from her father.

"You're welcome, Yuuki. Now open the box," Haruka gently instructed and watched her daughter's hands grasp the tiny black box he had gave her.

The box had an elegant design with Yuuki's full name engraved and silver swirling lines surrounding it. Yuuki slowly opened it and gasped when she saw a small ballerina figure in a dancing position facing a mirror. The figure had short brown hair and was wearing a white dress that reached to her knees.

"It's a music box, it can play music when a key is inserted in this area," Haruka pointed to one side of the box, "and you twist the key a few times."

Yuuki got excited upon hearing this and wanted to listen to the music. She then frowned when she realized she didn't have a key and peered inside the box to see if it was there—and it was. She grabbed the key eagerly, inserted it in the slot, and twisted it a couple of times.

Immediately, music poured from the tiny box and the ballerina spun in circles. The melody was peaceful and sad at the same time.

"What song is this?" Yuuki glanced up at her father with her curious round wine-colored eyes.

"Still Doll," Haruka answered and grinned, "do you like it?"

"I love it!" Yuuki exclaimed and smiled. She observed the ballerina figure's dance movements and wanted to follow her, earning a few chuckles from Haruka.

"Yuuki dear," Juuri called in a soothing voice, "I hope you will like this too." She held up a pink-colored plush bunny and tilted its head from side to side before finally bowing. She then smilingly passed the plush into her daughter's hands.

"Kawaii! Arigato Okaa-sama!" Yuuki embraced her mother with the bunny plush squashed between them.

Juuri placed her hand on top of Yuuki's head and held her child in a loving clasp. "I made it just for you. Will you take good care of it for me?"

"Of course! I will take good care of Usa-chan. Don't you worry, Okaa-sama!"

Kaname, who was sitting on a chair nearby, couldn't help but plaster a smile on his usual impassive face. His sister's childish behavior was too adorable and innocent. She could always brighten his day and was the only one who truly understood him.

"Gomenasai Yuuki," Kaname finally spoke and frowned, "I was going to give you this rose that blooms every ten years, but I didn't know how to preserve it when I saw it...so I—"

Kaname was interrupted when Yuuki walked over to him and enveloped her arms around him.

"It's okay," her sweet voice said, "as long as I have Onii-sama, I'm happy." She beamed up at him.

"Yuuki..." he mumbled and was slightly surprised by her actions. He returned her hug and closed his eyes as he felt blessed that he had Yuuki in his life.

Without Yuuki, he would have been lonely and miserable. His eyes suddenly fluttered open when he sensed an unfriendly guest approaching their home. He glimpsed at his parents and received a nod from them.

"Kaname, we'll be right back. Stay here with Yuuki," Haruka strictly ordered and stood up to leave the room. Juuri had cast a quick glance at her children before leaving the room to join her husband.

Yuuki scrunched her face in confusion, feeling a dark aura slowly seeping into the atmosphere. It made her uncomfortable. "Where are they going, Onii-sama?" she worriedly asked.

"I'm not sure…" He hesitated for he wanted to follow his parents but knew better to leave Yuuki all alone, especially at this critical moment when _he_ was present. "They will be back soon." He cautiously observed the room they were in, which made him sigh inwardly.

Few pieces of classy furniture here and there. Portraits of beautiful landscapes hanging on the surrounding four walls, serving as the only windows to the outside world. This was indeed a boring room and Kaname pitied his sister that this room was her world.

"Do you ever feel lonely in this room?" the question slipped out of his mouth.

"Sometimes..." Yuuki admitted and buried her head into Kaname's chest. "But I know I'm not alone because I'll always have Father, Mother, and you."

Kaname patted her head with his left hand and reassured her, "You'll never be alone Yuuki... I'll always be by your side."

Haruka's blood scent soon flowed through the air and loud footsteps were heard outside of the basement.

"Otou-sama..." Yuuki immediately recognized her father's blood scent; nervousness soon crawled on her skin. "Onii-sama, it is... father's blood!" She tightened her grip on Kaname.

"Kaname." Juuri hollered and reappeared back into the room. A stern expression marred her usual kind face.

Yuuki released herself from her brother to let him stand up.

"Rido is back and your father is currently dealing with him." Juuri paused to let this register in her son's mind. "I'll be helping out him soon and I want you two to be careful." She looked down at Yuuki, gaze softening, and continued, "No matter what happens, please take care of Yuuki. I'm relying on you."

Hearing Rido's name, Yuuki shivered without noticing and wondered who he was. Kaname nodded his head as he knew what was going to happen. Their parents were going to fight off their evil uncle Rido and there was a slight chance they wouldn't make it back alive. After all Rido was a pureblood and purebloods' battle were extreme and intense.

Rido came for Yuuki as he wanted to devour her, so he could become stronger. He failed to take his sister, Juuri, as his bride because she had refused to marry a wicked vampire who she did not love.

As revenge, he wanted to make Juuri suffer and take her precious daughter's life. He was going to pursue his goal at any cost.

"I love you very much," Juuri pecked Kaname's cheek and hugged him. She then whispered into his ear, "You indeed had become our good son..."

Kaname's eyes widened a bit as Juuri pulled away reluctantly. She then knelt down to Yuuki's height and sadly grinned. "Yuuki, please listen to Kaname and behave well while I'm gone. Okay?" With the back of her hand, she caressed her daughter's face, secretly knowing that this may be the last time of seeing her. The thoughts of not being able to watch her grow into a responsible and beautiful lady threatened tears, but she immediately batted them away for she needed to stay strong.

"Okay, but Mother. Why is there Fa—"

"I love you and this will be over very, very soon. I promise," she embraced Yuuki one last time, "you will now go to sleep." She placed a hand on Yuuki's forehead and said, "I'm sorry, my love…"

Yuuki was confused at this and certainly did not want to take a nap. She opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. She began to feel her eyelids being heavy to lift up and darkness invaded her vision. Within the next few seconds, she became dizzy and fell forward to her mother.

"Sayonara…my darling."

* * *

**.**

**Outside of the Kurans' Mansion**

**.**

"This is unforgivable Rido. You have gone too far," Kaname's voice was cold and he glared at his uncle.

Rido just laughed bitterly and said, "Whatever we do, we will always be guilty because of our sins."

"You disgust me greatly and I shall put this to an end," Kaname picked up the anti-vampire sword off the ground. The weapon shocked his hand when the contact was made, but he ignored the minor pain. "You have disgraced us purebloods."

"And what are you going to do about it, my little nephew? Kill me? That's drastic." Rido scoffed and looked over at his seven-year-old nephew.

"With pleasure," Kaname spoke into the frigid atmosphere.

In a swift movement, Kaname charged at Rido and made an attempt to thrust the sword at Rido's chest, to stab his heart—but he couldn't and scowled. The tip of the sword was touching Rido's chest but it did not penetrate through it.

"Have you forgotten that you cannot kill me? I'm the one who resurrected you from the dead, Kaname." Rido chucked and was amused by his nephew's actions. "You're rather forgetful."

Kaname cursed under his breath and quickly devised another method to get rid of him temporarily. "Well then—"

"Onii-sama!" Yuuki urgently cried out and sprinted from the mansion, "I don't feel Mother's nor Father's presences anymore!"

Yuuki had just woken up from her short slumber and panicked when she had smelt both of her parents' blood. She was paralyzed in fear when she no longer felt their presence around her. They would never leave her...right?

"Ah. Look what we have here. The Kuran princess," Rido smirked and turned his attention at Yuuki. She was his target and he wondered how her blood tasted like. He couldn't wait to lay his fingers on her.

Yuuki's eyes locked with Rido, staring at his mismatching eyes. One blazing blue and one ruby red. It was creepy yet mesmerizing. The stare had frightened her and she felt all the energy of her body draining.

Kaname didn't like the situation as Rido could attack Yuuki any minute. He carried out his plan without a second thought and strode over to Yuuki. He covered her eyes with one of his hands. "You have to go now," he stated.

The next thing that Yuuki heard was Rido's maniac laughing. Kaname's eyes had turned bright crimson and lights were soon emitting from Rido's body. Rido's body started to crack and he mumbled something as he vanished into the night.

Yuuki would never forget the last sentence she heard from Rido before he left. It was:

"_I'll show you a sweet dream next night…Yuuki." _

**.**

**Few days later…**

**.**

"Yuuki…we have to go now," Kaname's soft voice echoed in the quiet hallways of the mansion. He stood at the doorway of Yuuki's room and watched her lifelessly turn towards him.

Her eyesight elevated to his and agony could be seen from her usual cheerful eyes. She no longer smiled ever since she discovered that her parents were never coming back. They died of protecting her and she felt guilty.

Kaname had told her countless times that it was not her fault and that their parents would be unhappy if they saw her like this. He knew that their parents' death had a huge impact on his poor sister and this would haunt her for eternity… It saddened him when he saw Yuuki like this.

Yuuki stared back into her brothers' eyes and saw pain mirroring. She took a deep breath and concluded that for their parents' sake… she would try her best and continue living as her parents wanted her to. She knew that her parents would always be watching over her and Kaname. She would be a strong and noble girl.

She also knew that her brother must be devastated as well and needed her. They only had each other now and it was important to stick together in this world.

A small smile soon formed on Yuuki's face for the first time in the past couple of days. She would fulfill her duty as a daughter and pureblood. She picked up her small luggage on the ground as Kaname held out his hand for her. She slowly walked over to him and covered his hand with hers.

_I'll be happy for you, Onii-sama._

* * *

**Authress' Note: **Well, chapter 1 has ended and it was pretty sad… This was a more of an introduction to the story and I hope I did okay. The purpose of the family scene was to show how close the Kuran family was and how Yuuki's parents loved her.

Personally, I find it extremely depressing for a five-year-old girl to know that their parents died. It's very hard and takes a lot of time to accept the fact. So I hope that I didn't make it seem like Yuuki got over her parents' death so fast because she's still grieving over it (it's going to be for a while and you'll see how she will deal with it). It's just she's holding it in and doesn't want to cause more pain for Kaname (making him worried).

So what do you think of this chapter? Okay? Are the characters a little OOC? Constructive criticisms are welcomed.

January 12th, 2009

June 5th, 2013 [edited]


	2. The Divulgence

Hey everybody!

I'm terribly sorry that I didn't update for over a week, I was on vacation last week and I just returned on Monday. School then started for me on Tuesday and I got busy with other stuff. I really don't like the new semester… Anyways, usually I should be able to update in a couple of days unless I have a huge writer's block. But do not worry; I have an idea on what to write for the upcoming chapters. J

Thank you so much for the lovely comments you readers posted^^! It was really motivating and encouraging. After reading them, it made me want to write immediately ha-ha.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight—Hino Matsuri does.

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Divulgence**

**.**

**.**

"So what is the level of a common vampire?" Kaname tested his little sister after spending hours explaining their somewhat complicated hierarchy.

Luckily, Yuuki was a fast and eager learner, so she could memorize most of vampires' levels, but the only thing she didn't understand was why there were Level E vampires.

"Um...Level C?" Yuuki answered half-confidently, her hands fidgeting with her seat beat in the vehicle. Taking in all these explicit information about her kind in such a short time made her nervous that she would forget or mix the levels up. She inhaled and proceeded, "They are the ones between Level B and D vampires?"

"And what are Level D vampires?"

Yuuki knew who they were and eagerly replied, "Humans who were bitten and transformed into vampires."

"Level B?"

"Noble Vampires...the second highest in the hierarchy and below us." She began to feel proud of herself for getting the past questions right.

"Why is that then?"

Her eyes widened when she didn't recall Kaname going over why the noble vampires were at a rank that was the closest to them. Was it because they were noble…?

"Because they have high ranks in the human society?" she surmised since she was told most noble vampires were either famous celebrities or successors. She gave out a cheesy smile and hoped that she was right. She did not want to disappoint her brother.

Kaname's face remained emotionless and replied, "You're right about that...but the most important reason is that their blood is second purest to ours and they have advanced powers."

"Ohh..." she scratched the back of her head.

He softened his expression and plastered a sincere smile on his lips. "Don't worry, that's pretty good you remembered most of the ranks already. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

Upon hearing that, she cheered up and nodded her head. She soon got nosy where were they going and darted her eyes to the car's window. The stars were twinkling with the crescent moon beaming down at her.

Outside of the car, there was snow everywhere—on the trees that were hibernating, grass that were forgotten and hidden underneath, poles that were standing firm and immune to the frosty weather. It was like a winter wonderland. Even though it was dark, Yuuki saw the white snow clearly. The snow looked so soft and smooth...oh how it tempted her to touch it. The night was peaceful, enchanting, and beautiful.

"We are going over to the Ichijou's residence." Kaname suddenly said, regaining Yuuki's attention.

"Ichijou?" she repeated and furrowed her eyebrows. She had heard of that name frequently mentioned in conversations between their parents.

Apparently, their father disliked Ichijou Asato and the Council of Elders that currently were holding the reins of their society. They often were trying to take advantages of the purebloods and pounce at any open opportunity to get a sip of their royal blood.

"Yes, we're going to visit Ichijou Asato and the Council of Elders," he said rather sadly.

"Why?" Yuuki's face perplexed and she didn't understand why they would go to a place where they could be harmed.

"I have a couple of announcements to make to the council," he sighed and placed his right hand on his forehead.

* * *

**.**

**Ichiou's Conference Room**

"My parents died because of Rido," Kaname paused to look at every member of the council, "he came to try to take their daughter away."

Whispers, mumbles, and gasps were heard among the elders. Everyone was astonished at this news that the Kurans had a daughter.

"And if you're all thinking when the Kurans had a daughter," Kaname continued and thought what his mother told him, "she was born five years ago and my parents wanted to protect her." He decided not to go further for they did not need to know the details of why she was being protected. It was personal and he had every right to exclude that bit of information.

"So, without further ado, I would like you to meet my sister." He gently brought Yuuki forward from behind him. "Kuran Yuuki."

Everybody laid their eyes on the five-year-old and thought how she resembled her mother with her long auburn tresses. She had the insignia eye-color of the Kuran family, the dark shades of a red rose.

Who would take care of her? She looked so innocent and adorable…and incredibly helpless. This was a golden opportunity for manipulation.

Yuuki felt uncomfortable as everybody in the room pried at her like she was some rare gem on display. In her whole life, she never saw other vampires apart from her family. They didn't look very sincere, despite the pitiful expressions they wore.

"I would like to announce that she was born to be my wife...meaning she's my fiancée," Kaname possessively stated and in the back of his mind, he was happy that she belonged to him. He didn't need to claim her and they had a good relationship, but of course, being a gentleman that he was, if she didn't want to marry him, then he wouldn't force her to.

By now, the room was silenced and nobody was shocked that the last two Kurans on earth were going to be married to each other in the future. They had to continue their bloodline and incest was not an uncommon practice for them to do. Why else would their blood be so pure?

"I also want to inform that if anyone dares to hurt my sister…," his voice was full of authority and he menaced, "I will never forgive them and they shall be punished. Or end up like Rido…as he is no longer here."

The last statement sent shivers to most of the vampires in the room. Kaname knew that some of the elders probably had some connections with Rido and worked under him. He wanted to remind them to not pass their boundaries or they would face a pureblood's wrath.

"Yuuki's presence will continue to stay hidden until a decade later, in which I'll find the appropriate time for her to enter our society," he firmly stated. "Do not worry about her whereabouts as I'll arrange guardians to look after her. While as, I myself, will personally train and teach her proper etiquette." He then paused and peered down at his nervous sister "Again, if anyone dares to go against my plan, then they'll face serious consequences and maybe even perish," he said indifferently and conveyed that he was very protective of his Yuuki.

,

,

"Konbanwa!" a cheerful voice greeted Yuuki as a platinum-blond-haired boy waltzed into the room that she was temporarily staying.

"Konbanwa..." Yuuki slowly replied and examined the stranger who was brightly smiling at her.

He looked around like her brother's age and had pretty emerald eyes. She relaxed a little as she sensed a friendly aura emitting from him.

"My name is Ichijou Takuma," he gave a respectful bow, "Kaname-sama has sent me to keep you company while he's doing something important."

"Ohh..." She was carefully observing him and stared at his white clothes, not having the slightest clue why he seemed so merry.

"So what would you like to do, Yuuki-sama?" he casually asked.

"Ah!" she suddenly slammed her fist into her open palm, completely ignoring his question. "Are you an Ouji-sama?"

Now that explained why he looked so charming with his white attire! His hair was so fair and his personality was gallant. He was like those princes in fairytale books that her mother used to read to her before bedtime.

Takuma couldn't help it but laughed lightly when she thought he was a prince. He took it as a compliment that the pureblood princess thought he was a prince.

"What's so funny?" she pouted, obviously lost.

"Ahhh...Yuuki-sama you're so cute. No wonder Kaname-sama likes to be around you!" he chuckled. "I'm so sorry for laughing at first. And no I'm not an Ouji-sama. However, your brother is." He cheerfully sat down next to her on the bed.

Yuuki felt a little embarrassed and tried hard not to blush. This was her first time interacting with a vampire who was around her age and she totally messed it up. Would practice make it perfect?

"It's okay, it's just you looked like one?" she said honestly.

"That's nice to hear," he closed his eyes and nodded politely. "So would you like me to read you a story?"

He quickly stood up and went across to the bookshelves. He skimmed the books with his index finger as he tried to find a book suitable for Yuuki.

"Perhaps, Cinderella? There's prince charming in it," he teased and tugged a smile from the corner of his lips.

"No its okay," she replied sheepishly, fighting another blush that was creeping up. "I like … learning about nature." She couldn't wait until the day that she could venture into the world and see the breath-taking places that Kaname always described each time he returned from his trips with their father. A light smile splayed across her face at the thought of exploring the world with Kaname.

"Okay, nature it is." He grabbed a book with many colorful pictures and sat back down next to her.

He began to read the book to her and explained some pictures with his knowledge. Later Takuma told some of his funny experiences he encountered when he was younger. They both laughed together and got to know each other as each minute ticked on the big grandfather clock that was located at the corner of the room.

Yuuki was glad that she made her first friend. She didn't feel so lonely anymore and gradually looked forward in the future. Maybe entering the vampire society wasn't that bad as it sounded…

* * *

**Authoress' Note:** Chapter 2 is completed. Takuma and Yuuki are friends^^. The last scene was intended to be light-hearted and funny because I'm trying to show that little Yuuki has a very naïve and cute mind. I simply cannot wait to write about Yuuki when she's grown-up…but it's going to be a while as she has to meet her guardians. I can tell you one thing for sure; it will not be Asato or Kaien. Lol. So who will be Yuuki's guardians?

Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcomed ;]

January 23, 2009

June 13, 2013 [edited]


	3. Her Guardians

Happy belated Chinese New Year everybody^^!

This chapter consists of mini Kuran fluff (again) and after the next chapter, I'll begin to write about Yuuki being 12. Then about a couple of more chapters, I'll get to the present day/Yuuki being grown-up. =]

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight—Hino Matsuri does.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Her Guardians**

**.**

**.**

**At Twilight's Hour; Yuuki's bedroom**

"Onii-sama, are you asleep…?" Yuuki whispered, peeking with one eye at her brother, who appeared to be peacefully sleeping next to her on the rather enormous mattress. She snuggled closer to him, missing very much the times when they slept together with their parents. It was warmer and more fun, as their parents would tell exciting tales of their juvenile days.

"Not anymore," his sleepy voice answered and he peeked back at his sister.

It was slumber time for most vampires as the sun was rising at the horizon. Dawn was breaking and Yuuki should have fallen asleep hours ago. Little vampires shouldn't be up this late, but for some reasons, Yuuki couldn't sleep and was very bored. Hence, she decided to bother her one and only bed companion left in the world.

"Yuuki, you should sleep… Are you not tired?" he looked at her drowsily.

"Nope, I can't sleep."

"Then count sheep."

"I did...and I counted 300 sheep already,"

He softly chuckled at the number of sheep she counted and teased, "Then count 300 more."

"...Onii-sama...you're so mean!" she puffed her cheeks and folded her arms, "It's not funny and it was hard not to lose count."

This time, he couldn't suppress the laughter inside of him and let it out freely. He rubbed his eyes to clear his blurry vision, waking himself up a little more. After he was more conscious, he saw Yuuki looking a bit angry at him, mirroring the all-too-familiar serious expression that he always used when talking to other vampires—she was definitely his sister.

"Ah...I'm sorry. I'm awake now. Would you like to talk?" he changed the topic and hoped she would forget about her childish yet cute small tantrum

Yuuki's face softened and she pondered with her index finger on her chin, occasionally tapping it. Kaname smiled as he knew he had successfully distracted her from the previous topic.

"Do you like it here?" he asked, wanting to know how she felt at the Ichijou's residence.

"Its...okay," she said and then pursed her lips together, "but Ichiou-san looks a bit mean and scary."

"How so?" he wanted her to elaborate.

She tilted her head to one side and thought back to the times she encountered him. Unlike, Takuma with his prince charming appearance—Ichiou seemed to be the polar opposite of him. He didn't smile much and his personality was one word: cold.

Ichiou gave her an unwelcoming feeling and the aura around him was not pleasant at all. When he finally smiled at her, it seemed so forced and unnatural. She still didn't understand how on earth Takuma was blood-related to Ichiou, his grandfather.

"I don't like him," she concluded, "he gives me the creeps and I feel like he is just being 'nice' to me because of my status."

"I see...," his voice trailed off as he knew for sure that Yuuki couldn't stay here with him anymore. He didn't want her to be living in a place where she felt unsecured and not at home.

Frankly, he didn't like the idea of Yuuki being around the corrupted Council of Elders so much. He was afraid that the elders would take advantage of her gentle nature. He didn't trust them-especially Ichiou, the First Elder of the group. Who knew what was up his sleeve? That vampire might be more complicated than he looked.

"Do you like him?" she asked back.

"He's okay," he briskly replied and refrained himself to discuss how 'wonderfully' Ichiou was leading the council. She was too young to perceive this, it was better if she stayed ignorant until later on. After all, ignorance was a bliss.

"Onii-sama… do you think we'll be like Okaa-sama and Otou-sama when we grow-up?" she suddenly asked.

Kaname immediately stopped thinking of Ichiou and stared at Yuuki. Her dark rubicund-colored eyes were full of hope and serenity. She was implying about their arranged marriage and he was happy that she brought it up. He simply could not wait when they become one and live throughout eternally.

He smiled and reached for her small hand, "Of course, we're going to be like Okaa-sama and Otou-sama in the future."

* * *

**.**

**Evening At Aidous' Residence**

Subsequently to their arrival at the Aidous' estate, Kaname decided to reveal who were Yuuki's guardians to her. After countless deliberations, he had chosen to go with the people who were the closest to their family, it was none other than the Aidous.

"We would be more glad than be the pureblood princess's guardians," Aidou Nagamichi humbly said and placed his right hand on his chest while bowing. "We owe so much to your parents and we ensure you that we'll protect the princess with our lives."

"Yes, we'll be honored to," Aidou Michiru added and bowed as well.

"Thank you, Aidou-san, I shall entrust your family with my sister," Kaname gratefully said, "I know your family is well known for intelligence, so I don't think I need to remind you what will happen if you harm Yuuki in any way, right?"

Kaname's eyes warningly glinted at Nagamichi and his wife. He knew the last statement he made wasn't really necessary for he knew that the Aidous were better than to manipulate Yuuki in rebelling against him. The Aidous were extremely loyal and respected the Kurans greatly… nevertheless, it was still better and safer to remind them.

"Hai," the couple replied.

Kaname nodded and strode towards the grand door to retrieve Yuuki.

Yuuki entered the room shyly and curtsied her dress. "Konbanwa, my name is Kuran Yuuki and it's nice to meet you," she introduced herself and gave a heartwarming smile as she lifted her head to meet their gazes.

Nagamichi and Michiru were amazed as it was their first time seeing the pureblood princess.

Yuuki indeed looked like a princess with her wine-colored tank dress that reached to her knees and a long black sleeve shirt underneath it. Her dress was empire waist and it had designs of roses ruffled on the collar area. She wore a pair of simple black ballet flats since she was not old enough for heels. Her long auburn hair was neatly groomed and a red Victorian jewel bow brooch was pinned to hold her falling bangs in place.

Her aura was exceedingly pleasant and sweet, not very terrifying as one would expect a pureblood to carry. Her face was very loveable to look at with her infectious smile that unconsciously caused both Aidous' lips to quirk up ever so slightly.

She was charming and enthralling, the Aidous weren't sure was this due to her warm personality or her pureblood nature, but one thing they did know was that she will surely become a beautiful sophisticated lady like her mother. They were going to aid in any way possible, even if it meant risking their lives when protecting her.

* * *

**.**

**In Aidous' Garden**

"O…ni…sa…ma," Yuuki weakly enunciated and held her head with one hand, feeling the whole world was spinning around her. "I…need…energy."

In truth, she didn't want to take energy from her beloved brother, but she needed it to keep living and be by his side. Her vampire fangs hadn't grown out yet and it would be a while until so, few more years perhaps. She felt ashamed of herself each time as she took energy from him because she couldn't give him anything back…at least not yet.

Hearing Yuuki's request, Kaname went over to where she was and placed her on his lap while settling down on a wooden bench. Without any further notice, he leaned in and kissed her on the lips which was the fastest and most efficient way of transferring energy, mouth to mouth.

The kiss didn't last long and Yuuki pulled away from him when she felt better. To them, the kiss didn't have any strong romantic meaning or feeling as they had done it so many times before when she was low on energy.

"Thank you," she embraced him and closed her eyes to enjoy the scent on his clothes.

"Anytime, Yuuki," he hugged her back and felt a kid's presence nearby, "you can come out now Hanabusa-kun."

A blond hair boy with turquoise eyes stepped out of the tree behind Yuuki and Kaname. He looked a bit flushed, so he must have overheard the siblings' conversation at first. He eyed Yuuki and instantly knew that she was the Kuran who would be living with him for a while. He had been informed couple of hours ago from his parents that he had to look after her and treat her with respect.

"Kan-kan-ame-sa-sama! I-I-I was not eavesdropping," Hanabusa horribly stuttered. "I-I was just passing by to collect some materials for my experiment." He held up his notebook and some rocks he had collected to prove that he wasn't lying. The two siblings only stared at him, making him more nervous. "Erm… I'm going to go now. Gomenasai!" He did a quick bow before rushing out of the garden.

Yuuki was amused by Hanabusa and giggled. "Is he one of your friends like Takuma, Onii-sama?"

He nodded his head and reminisced back to the day they had met. He was five-years-old while Hanabusa was four-years-old. It was memorable and hilarious as Hanabusa refused to be his friend.

However, at the Kurans' condolence ceremony that was held few nights ago, Hanabusa told him that he actually liked Kaname and wanted to be his friend. A smile crept onto Kaname's face as he thought back the night when they became friends.

* * *

**.**

**Flashback - Few Nights Ago**

"_Kaname-sama... If you don't like it then just say you don't like it!" Hanabusa shouted and caused Kaname to turn around._

"_Because... Why so?" _

"_I know because I'm your friend."_

"_You said...you hated me." _

"_No, I just hated myself for not accepting...that I liked you."_

* * *

**_._**

**Hanabusa's Study Room**

Yuuki gently knocked on the white door before pushing the door open. She was looking for Hanabusa and wanted to talk to him.

One of the butlers had told her that Hanabusa was reading a book in his study room.

"Hanabusa-san?" her small voice called out and looked at the many rows of books in the grand bookshelves. She wondered if Hanabusa had read all of them.

Hearing a book's page being flipped, she soon found him leisurely reading a book on the sofa. She strolled over and smiled.

"Hello," she greeted.

"Yuuki-sama?" he looked up from his book and was surprised to see her.

"Hi! What are you reading?" she curiously inquired.

"Shakespeare's Hamlet," he grabbed his bookmark on the coffee table and placed it in his book.

"Is it good?"

"Yeah, but it's a sad story you see. It's about this man who is trying to avenge for his father's death, but he kind of procrastinated," he briefly explained and then realized how would a little girl understand that. He glanced at Yuuki and saw her trying to articulate what he had just told her with a confused expression.

"Ahaha, never mind that. So what are you doing here?" he was being blunt and then scolded himself when he noticed the question sounded a bit rude. "Err…I mean what brings you here, Yuuki-sama?"

"Nothing, it's just we didn't officially meet. You ran away at first…" she pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I had to do something so yeah…sorry," he couldn't tell her the reason he left was because he was embarrassed. It would be you know…_too embarrassing_.

"It's okay," she smiled again, "so do you want to be friends?"

That sentence. Hanabusa froze as his mind tried to comprehend it. The attitude she had when she said it and those eyes, it made him thought back when Kaname had asked the same question. He had refused to be his friend because he didn't want to admit that he liked Kaname. _Very mature_ _indeed._

Hanabusa hesitated a bit as he thought he might say "no" by accident. He didn't want to make the same mistake twice and Yuuki was nice. The aura around her was cheery and innocent. Now, how could he refuse a friendship with her?

"Sure, I would...love too," he grinned back and welcomed her into his life.

**.**

* * *

**Authoress' Note:** Looks like VampireMaddy guessed right that the Aidous are Yuuki's guardians^^! Aidou Hanabusa is actually my second favorite male character in the manga (my first one is Kaname xD) because he's so funny, lovable, and cute—especially the scene when he refused to be Kaname's friend. Lol. I had made up the names of Hanabusa's parents as I don't recall it being revealed in the manga. Was it mentioned?

**By the way, I have been doing an outline for this story and I was curious would you readers like it if I include the idea of Yuuki discovering that Kaname is actually her ancestor and not her brother (when they are older)? Would that be interesting (her reactions & acceptance of the truth)? Or should I leave it out (perhaps another story for it)? Because sometimes I do wonder what will happen when Yuuki finds out…

Also if you readers would like to see a particular scene in the story or want to suggest an idea—feel free to do so as I'm happy to listen =].

Next Chapter: Don't Leave Me

P.S. Chapter 47 in the manga was awesome =D

January 28th, 2009

June 17, 2013 - edited


	4. Separation

Hi everybody^^.

Sorry for the delay of this chapter as I had tons of assignments and studying to do for the past few days, but now I'm good. I also want to apologize to you, readers, for bearing with the silly errors I made in my last couple of chapters. I didn't catch them until I reread those chapters few days ago =.=". I was careless and I usually read my new chapters a couple of times before posting it to catch common errors... I guess it slipped out of my mind somehow. Ha-ha, maybe I should request a Beta-reader to help me out. Hmmm…

Now, after apologizing, I would like to thank you guys for posting such wonderful supportive motivating reviews! They were nice and fun to read. I love feedbacks because it's interesting to know what you readers think of my story and we can discuss how hot some VK characters are ;)

Anyways! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy ~

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight—Hino Matsuri does.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Separation**

**.**

**.**

**Midnight; Yuuki's Bedroom**

_We, as purebloods, should never cry in front of others. It would be a sin to cry because it showed weakness and shame._

Kaname's words echoed in Yuuki's mind, but it didn't stop the salty tears from streaming down her face. More sobs escaped from her lips as she tried to breathe air into her lungs.

She did not understand. Did she do something bad? She would change if he would tell her. Was he annoyed of her? Why did he leave her?

She was alone again. Their parents weren't here anymore and now her brother had left her.

**.**

**.**

**Flashback; Few hours ago in Aidous' Parlor**

"Yuuki...," Kaname gently stroked his sister's hair with his hand, "I'm going to be away for a couple of days."

"Where are you going? Can I come with you?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm going back to Ichijou's house,"

"Why?" she folded her arms, "why are we going back? I thought we are going to stay here."

Kaname winced a bit when he heard her saying 'we'. He didn't know how to break this sad news to her. He had to go back to spy on Ichiou and made sure he didn't go overboard on controlling the vampire society.

He was going back solo and certainly didn't want Yuuki to follow him. That was why he picked the Aidous to be Yuuki's guardians. She was going to stay here while he went back. It would be better that way because he knew she would be safe.

"Not exactly," he averted his eyes, "I'm going and you're staying."

"What? Why? Are you leaving me, Onii-sama?" she panicked and couldn't imagine life without him. He was her world. He was everything to her. They had a strong bond together that was hard to separate.

"It's just going to be a couple of days, three days to be exact. I'll be back on the following Sunday. I promise," he glanced back at his sister and saw sadness in her eyes. He began to feel guilty and continued, "I promise I'll come back. I'm not leaving you, Yuuki. Please...understand as I have to go back to take care of some matters."

Shaking her head from left to right, Yuuki receded away from him and stood up. She couldn't believe it; her own brother was going to leave her! It didn't matter if it was only a couple of days. He was leaving her. That was the only thing that was processing in her mind at that moment.

She inhaled a deep breath but still felt herself trembled as she gathered her guts to prepare what she was about to say.

"If you leave, then I'll never talk to you again, Onii-sama!" she angrily said and ran away into the empty hallway.

**End of Flashback**

**.**

**.**

Her tears were blurring her perfect vision as she sulked in her dark room.

Loneliness.

"I hate this feeling..." she said to herself and buried her head into Usa-chan's fluffy ears. "I miss you so much...Mother...Father..."

"Yuuki-sama?" Hanabusa called out from outside her room and knocked on the door. "Are you there?"

No answer, but sniffles were heard occasionally followed by hiccups. She ignored him as she did not want to be disturbed.

"I'm coming in, alright?" he worriedly said and turned the doorknob clockwise.

As he took baby steps into the room, he sensed a small dark aura emitting from the young pureblood. His eyes roamed the room for the usually happy-go-lucky Yuuki and stopped when he found a lump on the bed.

"Yuuki-sama?" his hand reached forward to touch the lump and patted it.

She immediately sat up and stared at her intruder with teary eyes. "What do you want?" her voice was ice-cold and bitter indicating she was not in the mood for company.

"You skipped dinner...," he decided to be blunt and not beat around the bush.

"And...?"

"So you must be hungry and it's almost three o'clock in the morning!" he reminded her. He knew that she only needed energy, but a growing vampire still needed other protein from meat to help their physical body mature. "I advise that you should come downstairs with me and eat."

"I don't want to," she replied stubbornly, "I'm just not hungry… Okay?" She then realized that she might have sounded a bit bratty and apologized.

"Is it because of Kaname-sama?" he did a lopsided smile and continued, "You're angry at him for leaving you, right?"

Yuuki snapped out of her daze and heeded to what he was going to say.

"You're hurt that your last remaining family member that you hold dearest is no longer at your side," he was speaking out what was occupying in Yuuki's mind. "But, you must remember that Kaname has to play his role as a pureblood as well. Even though he is a couple of years older than you, he has a lot of responsibility."

Yuuki never thought of it from that perspective. She didn't know what Kaname did outside of their home and what kind of responsibility he had…

Hanabusa crossed his arms and rambled on, "He is currently learning how to become a leader and involving himself in the Council of Elders." There was a pause and a sigh. "Anyhow, he really loves and cares about you, Yuuki-sama. So you're not the only one suffering, he's enduring the pain of this separation just the same as you."

Yuuki was indeed selfish then, she only thought about herself and not him. She didn't even bother to think how he felt towards this separation. She was too focused with herself.

Kuran Kaname was a person whose nature was reserved and gentle. If he was in pain, he would say nothing and keep it to himself. He was the one who spoiled Yuuki the most and never wanted to hurt her. He promised that he would always protect and be there for her no matter what.

"Don't be down, he's coming back in a few days." Hanabusa was trying to lighten her mood and asked, "Would you like to eat now?"

She shook her head from left to right which caused him to frown.

"Why not?" He began to think that his speech was futile.

"I'm really not hungry… but don't worry. If I do, I'll go downstairs to the kitchen to get something to eat." She then smiled a little to reassure him that she was okay. "Thank you for cheering me up."

"You're welcome," he said and straightened himself, "anytime Yuuki-sama. Good night."

He was about to leave, but there was a small tug on the hem of his sweater vest that prevented him from moving further. He turned around to find Yuuki tugging at his sweater, surprise etched on his handsome face.

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" she asked shyly, blushing.

In truth, after the incident of Rido and the death of her parents, Yuuki had been sleeping with Kaname every night. She felt unsecured, the event had completely traumatized her. Deep down, she was afraid that Rido would come back from the death and haunt her.

Luckily, Hanabusa had sisters, so he didn't mind playing a brotherly role and substitute for Kaname's absence. He secretly felt happy that Yuuki trusted him that much to let him stay with her while she slept.

"Sure," he walked back towards her and smiled kindly.

She patted the right side on the mattress and told him that he could lie down if he wanted. At first he didn't want to because it might be awkward and surely he didn't want Kaname to find out about it. However, he soon gave in when she insisted that he would be in an uncomfortable position if he just sat there.

He didn't get under the covers with Yuuki, but lay down next to her. He watched her as she let sleep took over her body, eyelids closing and her breathing becoming more even and slow.

"Sweet dreams, Yuuki…sama..." He yawned and slowly dozed off to sleep as well.

* * *

**.**

**Evening at the Music Room**

Yuuki tapped her fingers on the white keys of the grand piano and played the basic C major scale. She then curved her fingers and played a piece her father taught her which was "Ode to Joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Four days had passed in a blink of an eye and Kaname still hadn't come back from the Ichijou's residence. She felt anxious at this and wondered did anything bad happen to him.

She couldn't focus on her academic lessons that were being taught to her which distressed some of her teachers for they had to postpone the lessons until she felt better emotionally.

She exhaled as she finished playing and then attempted to play the piece that Kaname had composed for her. It was their song as he would frequently play it on the piano when they were together.

As expected, she kept hitting the wrong notes and failed miserably to play the piece. Out of frustration, she slammed both of her hands against the piano in a very unladylike manner.

"Argh! I'm useless…" she muttered to herself. "I heard it so many times and even watched him play…yet I can't get it right!"

"No need to hurt the piano, Yuuki-sama. It's innocent," Hanabusa spoke up from leaning against the doorway. He chuckled and sashayed over to where she was. "Which song would you like to hear? I can play it for you."

"It's okay, I'm not in the mood anymore."

"You sure? I know how to play most of the songs by Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Bach, Handel, Schumann, and other famous pianists," he bragged and stuffed his hands in his pants' pocket while he proudly stuck his nose in the air.

Yuuki giggled as she couldn't believe at the sight before her. She never saw this side of Hanabusa and his arrogance. He acted like he knew every piano piece composed in the entire universe. Way to be modest.

"I don't think you can," she challenged him.

"Why so?" he stared at her, his hands on his hips.

"Do you know how to play 'Pleasant Memories' then?"

Silence.

Hanabusa was furiously thinking of all the songs he learned in his mind and couldn't recall learning a song called "Pleasant Memories". What song was there? Who was the composer? Was he famous?

"So do you know?" she pressed on the question and raised her eyebrows at him.

"What's the composer name?" he was curious and maybe that would help him out if she told him the name.

"Kaname onii-sama,"

"Oh…," was the only word that came from Hanabusa's mouth.

"See? Told you that you won't be able to play it,"

"Well…I may not be able to play it, but now it's my turn to ask you a question. Do you know this song?" he sat down on the piano bench next to her and positioned himself to play the well-known piece "Für Elise".

The song started out as elegant and delicate as if a young man was courting a fair maiden. Hanabusa's fingers were dexterously running along the piano's keyboard as harmony were being created and both hands were playing melodies like they were having a conversation.

He kept stepping on the piano's pedals to sustain the melodies as he searched for the next arpeggios, creating a nice effect to extend the notes so they didn't sound so broken up. From time to time, there were crescendo and decrescendo to make the melody dramatic. The tempo kept changing and soon the melody was beginning to sound more happy and alive. There were a couple of staccato notes and then the song suddenly sounded low and dangerous. Few minutes later, the same rhythm came back and Hanabusa was doing arpeggios again.

Yuuki clapped her hands when he ended the song with chords. "Wow, that was beautiful!" she exclaimed and then praised, "You played well! Your fingers were so fast when you played the scales!"

"Thank you, I still need some work on that song," he turned to face her. "Anyways, the piece is called 'Für Elise' and it was composed by Beethoven."

Yuuki thought that composition's name was interesting and inquired, "Was it for a lady named Elise? For Elise?"

"I'm actually not quite sure," he scratched the back of his head, "there were rumors that Beethoven composed it for a lady who he wanted to marry, but she declined his proposal and married another man later on."

"Oh, that's sad. He must have loved her, but did she not love him back?" Yuuki knew she would be upset when she loved someone so much and that person didn't return her love.

"Probably not, why else would she refuse to marry him?" he stared blankly at the piano and pondered what would he do if he were in Beethoven's position?

**.**

* * *

**Authoress' Note:** I know. I know. Kaname-sama didn't have much appearance in this chapter, but I promise you guys that he'll reappear in next chapter. I admit this was an Aidou and Yuuki fluff, but there's a reason why I wrote it (not mainly because they are cute together). You'll see in the future chapters and there is a significance of Aidou playing "Für Elise". I think it's kind of obvious if you think about the rumor meaning of the song...it's foreshadowing something…

Oh yeah, for some reasons, I couldn't help but laugh when I wrote Aidou sashayed over to Yuuki. Because according to the dictionary, 'sashayed' meant "to strut or flounce in a showy manner" lol. I guess I can imagine Aidou doing that, but what I really meant was he walked over casually, okay =]?

By the way, I have finally decided to include the Kaname-ancestor idea. I'm going to try to blend it in and I think I know how I want to write it. Thank you for your kind opinions!

Next Chapter: Tainted With Blood / Unsatisfying Thirst

February 5th, 2009

June 26, 2012 – edited


	5. Unsatisfying Thirst

**** Announcements – Please Read ****

1.) Vampires' Age & Years

I would like to say in this story; the length of the years is equivalent to human years. In other words, if I don't say "in vampire years", it's all in human years. Also, the concept of vampires being advanced and intelligent at a young age will apply here. Their ability in learning will be at a faster rate than a normal human child.

2.) Experiment in this chapter

There's going to be a mini Chemistry experiment that Hanabusa will conduct. I know that he's a little young to be doing experiments, but I have that concept of 'little vampires are intelligent' as my excuse^^. The lab is not that dangerous as it sounds and if you follow the procedure properly then you'll do fine. And besides…if you really think about it, they are vampires and they have fast-healing powers. So I don't think there is much harm to it. But still, please bear with me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight—Hino Matsuri does.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Unsatisfying Thirst**

**,**

**.**

**Evening at Aidous' Garden**

"Yuuki-sama!" a young maid called out, walking around in search for the pureblood. She soon found her near the water-fountain. "Kaname-sama has arrived and wishes to see you."

Yuuki stopped plucking the white daisies from the ground and stared down at the tiny bouquet she was arranging.

The news of her brother's return gave her relief as she knew he was safe and sound. Part of her had an impulse to run into his arms again while the other part of her held back that impulse for she had still felt abandoned.

"Thank you, Miki-san. I'm feeling tired right now… so I do not wish to see him." Yuuki stood up from the ground and brushed pecks of dirt off her yellow dress.

"But…Yuuki-sama…," Miki hesitated and didn't know which pureblood's order to follow. She was leaning towards on Kaname's side as her guts told her that he was the authoritative one. She certainly didn't want to get into trouble, so maybe she should try persuading Yuuki.

However, before Miki could open her mouth, a small bundle of flowers abruptly appeared in front of her face.

"For you Miki-san. I hope you like them," Yuuki smiled and handled over the flowers.

Miki gladly accepted the flowers and thanked her for the sweet gift. She enjoyed being Yuuki's personal servant as it was always pleasant to be around her.

"Don't worry much about my Onii-sama," Yuuki clasped her hands together and looked away. "You won't get in trouble. Just ignore him…okay? Good night!" She hastily smiled again and sprinted into the mansion.

The maid stood rooted to the ground, wondering what was going on between the two Kurans who seemed to be inseparable each time she saw them together. She then exhaled and shrugged her shoulders. Maybe it was better if she didn't interfere.

Yuuki sensed her brother's presence and scent as she scurried off to her room. She quickened her pace and hoped that she would not bump into him because she honestly didn't know how to face him.

She was still angry at him—partly because he had left her and arrived three days later than he promised. He didn't keep his promise, but the main reason was… she secretly felt guilty of not considering the circumstances he was in when he left her. She was angry at herself as well.

Yuuki's face was flushed with her cheeks being in the shade of light pink. She huffed as she closed her bedroom's door and slid down on the cool surface floor.

She got more nervous when she heard footsteps approaching her room.

"Yuuki, I know you're in there." The all-too-familiar voice rang in her ears as she would never forget in her life. "I'm coming in."

Kaname turned the handle of the door and opened it but not completely all the way for something was obstructing his path. The door was ajar and he tried to peek through it.

"No! I don't want to see or talk to you anymore!" Yuuki shouted and leaned her whole body on the door in an attempt to prevent him from coming in.

Without out saying anything, he pushed the door with greater force and easily got into her room. She immediately stalked away to her window and crossed her arms.

"Are you still angry at me?"

"…"

"I'm sorry that I came late… Ichiou wanted to be your guardian and I told him I already chose your guardians," he explained and got closer to her, "then he got into a fuss saying that the Council of Elders should look after us and we had a long argument…"

Still no response from Yuuki.

"Ahh…don't tell me that you didn't miss your Onii-sama?" he tried to tease her and that was when she turned to face him.

"You broke your promise," she stated blankly.

"I know…I'm sorry, the Council of Elders…." He sighed and closed his eyes.

She relented and thought what Hanabusa had told her earlier.

_But, you must remember that Kaname has to play his role as a pureblood as well. Even though he is a couple of years older than you, he has a lot of responsibility._

"It's okay," she said in a low voice and shamefully confessed, "I'm sorry that I was being selfish of wanting you to stay by my side forever. I forgot the duties you have to carry out..."

"Yuuki…" Kaname brightened up when he heard that statement and was proud that her mind was beginning to mature. "For now we cannot be together all the time, but when we are older we can be side by side as much as you want. Just like Father and Mother, okay?" He reassured her by pulling her into his embrace.

She smiled and nodded her head enthusiastically. She was definitively looking forward into the future then.

* * *

**.**

**Two years later; Winter Season**

Yuuki had just finished her piano lessons and excitedly ran down to Hanabusa's science laboratory in the basement. She wanted to see what kind of experiment he was going to do and be his assistant.

For the past two years, inhabiting with the Aidous had greatly influenced her in fields of science and literature. After all, they were famous for their scientific researches and studies they had conducted that improved the lives of both humans and vampires.

She eagerly entered the basement and was greeted by a rather professional-looking Hanabusa. He had his safety goggles on and wore a white lab coat to avoid any chemical staining on his dressy clothes.

"Yuuki-sama, put on your goggles, tie up your hair, and wear your lab coat." He instructed without glancing at her. He knew it was her because of the blood he sensed inside of her, and she always came at this hour to help him.

She quickly followed his orders and ignored the uncomfortable feeling she was got when she worn the goofy-looking goggles.

"What experiment are you doing, Hanabusa?" she asked curiously.

"Reaction between sodium and water," he said while he carefully took out the closed container of sodium, "Chemistry lab today."

"Ooo…I see."

"Now, Yuuki-sama. Sodium is a VERY reactive metal," he said and emphasized that she should be cautious at all times. He didn't want her to get injuries or else he would never see the light of day if Kaname found out that he harmed his Yuuki. "When the metal comes into contact with water, it's going to act violently."

"Okay," she replied, nodding her head. "Is it because of the sodium hydroxide base and hydrogen gas the reaction will produce?"

"That's right, sodium hydroxide is extremely corrosive, so be sure not to get any of the liquid on you." He then placed down the container on the desk and turned to face her. "When I place a small piece of sodium into this beaker of water, there should be a tiny explosion." He gestured to the beaker next to him. "The liquid's color will change and hydrogen gas will be produced, which leads the metal burning with a bright flame."

"Wow…"

"Yes, wow indeed. So it's very important that after I place the sodium into the water, you move back from it at least three to four feet. Capiche?" He stood with arms akimbo, casting a wary look.

"Hai, hai. Can we start the experiment now, Aidou-sensei?" she asked, eying the can of sodium. She was beginning to grow impatient and found him getting naggy.

Hanabusa opened the can and used a pair of tongs to get a piece of sodium. He then placed it over to a watch glass where he delicately sliced the sodium with a knife into a smaller piece.

"Isn't that kind of big, sensei?" Yuuki spoke her mind out and examined the metal.

"I know what I'm doing," he confidently said, "do not worry. Now stand back." He gently pushed her back.

He glanced at her one last time before proceeding on placing the sodium in the beaker. The water's color changed into a purple-pinkish shade as the sodium melted and sizzling noises were heard.

"Is that all it's going to do?" she bothered him as he got close to her with a clipboard and pen.

"Just be patient!"

Curiosity got a hold of Yuuki and she leaned forward to have a closer look. Hanabusa was busily observing the metal's wild reaction and paid no attention to the increasing short distance between Yuuki and his experiment.

The sizzling noise began to die and the little metal began to move viciously against the beaker. In a matter of seconds, the hydrogen gas ignited into a bright flame due to the heat that was being produced in the exothermic reaction.

A loud noise erupted, frightening Yuuki and causing her to leap back. The flame got slightly bigger and Hanabusa knew the beaker was about to break. Realization soon dawned on him that she was in a dangerous position, so he immediately stopped taking notes and dropped everything.

"Yuuki, be careful!" he hurriedly grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.

As expected, the beaker exploded and the shattering glass was mercilessly flying everywhere, attacking everything within its sight. Hanabusa shielded Yuuki with his body from the broken glass. They fell onto the ground as he rushed to protect her, landing with a soft thump.

"Are you okay, Yuuki?" he worriedly asked.

Yuuki looked at him with confused eyes. She thought he would be angry at her for not following his safety instructions. She had risked injuring the both of them yet he showed concern for her, not giving a care about his condition. He had even dropped the honorific title when he address her—which she was secretly happy about because she was tired of hearing him call her "sama" all the time.

"Did you get any cuts? How do you feel?" he pressed on the questions.

"I…I….am okay," she answered and recovered from her daze. "What about you? Did you get injured? Gomen." Her eyes frantically searched for any opened wounds on his face.

"I'm fine," he gazed down at her and noticed how close their faces were. He averted his eyes and found himself blushing. "Baka, I told you not get so close…"

She didn't understand why he turned away from her but she soon caught on a cut being formed on his left cheek, blood threatening to trickle down his face.

Unconsciously, Yuuki's eyes flashed bright crimson and she had the instinct of licking it off his face. She leaned her face towards him and placed her right hand on his shoulder for support.

Hanabusa saw from the corner of his eye that somehow she was getting close to him, so he couldn't help it but turned his head towards her. Was there something on his face?

She refrained herself from tasting the blood when his eyes met hers. What was she doing?

"You have a small cut on your cheek." She caressed his cheek and the blood stained her hand. She looked at it and her eyes flashed bright red again.

He observed her behavior and concluded that it was time her body desired blood…

* * *

**.**

**Nighttime; Aidous' Parlor**

"Takuma!" Yuuki exclaimed and ran over to the open arms of the gleeful vampire.

He laughed as she tackled him with her hug. She had not seen him for a while and missed his cheerful voice.

"My, oh, my! Yuuki-chan, you have gotten prettier as usual!" he smiled at her and then teased, "And also taller!"

"You too! Did you grow seven inches?"

"You're exaggerating; I might have grown three to four inches. You're just short, my princess." He replied and stared down at her. He was fond of calling her princess as it reminded him their first acquaintance in which she thought he was a prince.

"But I'll grow and soon I'll be the same height as you!" she said childishly.

"And I'll grow as well, meaning I'll be still taller than you." He made a point and released her from his hug.

"So what brings you here?"

"Yes, what brings you here, Takuma?" Hanabusa finally spoke up, making his presence known in the room. He was sitting on the settee and watched them in amusement. He knew why Takuma was here because it was him who contacted Kaname regarding about Yuuki needing blood.

"Ah, Hanabusa-kun! I didn't notice you there," Takuma strode over to him and grinned. "Well, I'm here to visit my two good friends but it seems one of them is giving me the cold shoulder... practicing your element?" he teased, folding his arms across his chest. "Anyways, I'm actually accompanying someone on this trip..."

Someone? Did that mean…

"Onii-sama!" Yuuki was joyful as she practically threw herself into Kaname's protective arms. She inwardly sighed as she indulged herself in his scent.

Kaname chuckled at her juvenile behavior that he never got tired of. They always greeted each other in this manner and eventually it became a habit.

"Konbanwa, Yuuki." He neatly tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ears. "I have something important to discuss with you. Come with me." He gently took her hand and led her out of the room.

* * *

**.**

**Yuuki's Bedroom**

Kaname closed the door and locked it to prevent unwanted guests that might distract them. He pulled her towards the bed and had her sit down. She gave him a perplexed expression as she did not know what was going on.

"Yuuki…lately do you feel your throat is constantly burning and dry?" he probed and took off his black trench coat.

How did he know? She didn't tell anyone—not even Hanabusa or his parents. Unconsciously, her hand climbed its way to her throat and rubbed it slightly.

It was true; she had been feeling those symptoms since last week. Sometimes in the middle of the morning, she would wake up and find herself very thirsty. The thirst would be so unbearable to the point where she had to drink many glasses of water, but it was insufficient—it wasn't enough.

She thought it would go away and didn't want to trouble her guardians about it. She didn't know it would be this severe.

"Yes…and a bit weak as well," she admitted and bit on her lower lip, "I can no longer take energy from other people… When I touch them, nothing happens!" She demonstrated it by touching his arm in an attempt to absorb energy from him. "See? You don't feel anything, right?"

He shook his head from left to right. "I believe your body wants blood now… You need it."

He rolled up the sleeve of his white shirt and bit his wrist to expose some of his blood. Yuuki's eyes color was lustrously red at the scent of it, eagerly wanting to taste it. He held his wrist in front of her and knew she was losing control as the scent gradually permeated the entire room.

"Drink it,"

"…Are you sure?"

"It's okay, you're hungry aren't you?"

She reluctantly took his wrist and felt a pair of fangs growing out of her teeth. She angled her face and saw the blood veins flowing inside his arm. She was afraid that she would hurt him, but soon her instincts dominated over her mind. She no longer thought of her moral values and pierced her small fangs into his flawless skin.

He winced slightly as she took her first gulp of blood. She was inexperience indeed and she would definitely improve as time passed by. He stroked her hair as he knew she was nervous and felt uneasy.

"Take as much as you need."

Blood had finally made its grand entrance into Yuuki's world. The red liquid had become essential to her and she needed it for the rest of her life to survive. It tasted so sweet and delicious. Was she going to get addicted to it?

As her thirst was dying, she discovered that she could read her brother's thoughts. He was thinking of her and only her. She glimpsed at her brother and he gazed away. The thoughts suddenly changed and they were about the Council of Elders. She was slightly surprised that her brother was starting to dislike Ichiou for some reasons and already had a few conflicts with the Council.

She didn't want to continue to read the thoughts and immediately withdrew her fangs.

"Gomen…Gomen…" She apologized as got onto his lap and hugged him. "I didn't know Onii-sama is having a terrible time at Ichijou's place." This time, she stroked his hair to comfort him.**  
**  
Tainted with blood, little did she know that this was the beginning of her sin**. **

**.**

* * *

**Authoress' Note:** This chapter was actually longer than I expected ha-ha. I do notice that there are some Aidou and Yuuki fluffs going on. But do not worry, my Yume fans, there'll be tons of their Kaname and Yuuki scenes in the future :D.

Oooo and this chapter was dedicated to Fantasy-Magician who suggested the idea that Yuuki accidentally ruins Hanabusa's experiment and causes an explosion. I know the explosion wasn't big and to be honest, it was different than what I wanted. I kind of played with the idea and blended with the idea of Yuuki needing blood. I hope you don't mind^^!

Next Chapter: Her Devoir

-Yuuki will be meeting Akatsuki and Ruka.

February 13th, 2009

June 30, 2013 – edited


	6. Her Devoir

**Special thanks to the lovely VampireMaddy for beta-ing this chapter *hugs her^^*! She helped me a lot with this chapter and gave great advices.

*Clarification in this chapter: Aidou Nagamichi and Michiru are Hanabusa's parents.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight—Hino Matsuri does.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Her Devoir**

**.**

**.**

**Somewhere in Aidous' Estate; Spring Season**

Hanabusa never considered the possibility of running a marathon in his own home, nor having a heart attack, in all his eight years of life. Unfortunately for Hanabusa, both of these seemed highly plausible outcomes as he continued on his mission: attempting to locate the missing pureblood princess.

"Yuki-sama!" his hoarse voice echoed down the corridor.

He placed his right hand on the wall to support himself from collapsing of exhaustion, panting heavily as he tried to allow air to fill his lungs in short drags.

"Where are you?" he asked, to no one particular as he was by himself.

It was ironic that he felt her presence in the vicinity of their home, but he couldn't find her breathing body anywhere.

"Ahhh… come _on_. This is so not cool!" he whined, and closed his eyes to concentrate on finding her scent.

He didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't find Yuuki anywhere in the building. Had he lost her? Maybe so. How? Maybe it was when he shooed her out of his study room because he wanted to finish reading _'Lord of the Flies' _by William Golding. The book was absorbing as it discussed how civilized children turned into savages because they were stranded on an unknown island with no adults.

Surprisingly, Yuuki did not try to bother him ever since that hour and had left him in peace with his precious book. A couple of hours had gone by and yet Hanabusa couldn't focus on reading, because his conscious was telling him to go check up on the brunette to see if she was okay.

He had no luck on getting her whereabouts when he inquired of the passing maids and butlers.

Was she angry at him? For not playing with her? He hoped not.

He did not want to tell his parents and seek for help as he knew he would be in big trouble if his parents ever found out that he had chosen a book over a pureblood—especially from his teacher, who would remind him about how any pureblood could form an army anytime they wished and overthrow the Ancient Council.

His face turned pale white when he imagined the possibilities of various punishments his father would give him. He quickly straightened himself and resumed his search for the princess.

"Ai-ya...Yuuki-sama!" he shouted, running a hand through his tousled hair.

* * *

**Horse Riding Area; Backyard of Aidous' Estate **

Yuuki clapped her hands as Kain Akatsuki galloped his chalk colored horse around the green pasture. His ember eyes were full of determination as a gust of wind blew against his light, orange and wavy hair. "He's so brave, Ruka." She commented to a girl with golden-brown hair and dusty-rose colored eyes.

Ruka nodded her head and cheered, "Go Akatsuki!"

Hearing the girls rooting for him, Akatsuki grinned and showed off his equestrianism by getting his horse to jump another fence whilst he waved at them.

"Amazing!" Yuuki exclaimed, as Akatsuki approached her. "What is it like, riding on a horse? Is it fun? Bumpy?"

He stared down at the excited Yuuki and thought of an idea. "Would you like to try, Yuuki-sama?"

"I would love to!" she eagerly answered.

Akatsuki extended his hand towards Yuuki and she grasped it firmly as he lifted her up to place her in front of him.

"Be careful, Akatsuki, don't go too fast." Ruka reminded him, and grimaced at the idea of her two friends being in danger.

"Are you ready, Yuuki-sama?" Akatsuki glimpsed at the pureblood. "Put your legs over on one side and hold onto the horse's mane."

Yuuki did as she been told and adjusted her dress so it wouldn't wrinkle. Luckily, she had the proper attire for the occasion as her dress not too long or flowing; otherwise it could tangle up with the horse's legs and endanger both their safety.

Akatsuki gave a light kick to the horse to indicate that he wanted him to start moving. The horse obeyed and moved forward.

Yuuki smiled. "Does the horse have a name?" she inquired, glancing up at her riding partner. "Soft and slightly curly." she commented, and giggled as she stroked the horse's mane.

"His name is Charles and he just turned seven years old last month." Akatsuki replied, fixing his eyes on the road ahead of them.

"He's the same age as me then!"

Akatsuki gave her a quick glance. "Not exactly. Horses grow pretty fast, and one human year is roughly equivalent to 3 years for a horse. So that means Charles is about 23 years old in horse years."

"I see. Well is he…?" Yuuki continued to ask questions about horses, since she did not have much knowledge on equestrianism.

Not very far away, Hanabusa ran into the field and found Ruka staring off into distance. His legs were aching from the constant running, so he stumbled and tripped a little when he reached towards her.

"Ruka!" Hanabusa shouted, and waved wildly with both of his hands. "What are you doing here? Is Akatsuki here as well?" he asked, scanning the field for any sight of his cousin.

Ruka tilted her head to one side. "I thought you knew that we were coming over today? Didn't you get the memo?"

"No… I don't recall getting any message from you guys."

"Are you sure? Because you are very forgetful and have short term memory." she bluntly said, pointing a flaw of his.

"Ruka… I do _not_ have short term memory!"

"Oh yeah, what color was my dress that I wore when I visited you last week?"

Hanabusa pondered and went with the color that he always seen Ruka wear. "Uhhm… amethyst color?"

Ruka grinned and corrected him. "Nope. It was the color of orchid."

"_What_?" he threw his hands in the air. "That does not count! Those colors are both very similar!"

"No… amethyst is darker, whilst orchid is a lighter shade of purple." she explained.

He knitted his brows together and defensively said: "That still does not prove I have short term memory! I have you know that I read about three to four books a _day_!"

"So? Even if you got a big brain, its long term capacity might be limited." she remarked.

Hanabusa had never understood why every time he spoke with Ruka they end up arguing. His cousin, Akatsuki, seemed to get along fine with Ruka; probably because he has a crush on her, meaning that he would never go against her.

What did Akatsuki see in that Souen Ruka anyway? To Hanabusa, he would describe her as hot tempered, stubborn, irrational, and overly obsessed with Kaname. Yuuki, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Ruka and was patient, understanding, sensible, amiable, adorable, and… the list could go on forever.

"Ahh… I have no time for this! Have you seen Yuuki-sama?" He almost forgot the reason why he was talking to her in the first place.

"Yuuki-sama? Yeah, she's riding on a horse with Akatsuki."

"What? Isn't she too young for horse riding? Is she dressed well for that activity? Did she have a helmet on? Pads?" he fired questions at the impassive looking Ruka. "Why did you let her get on? What happens if she gets hurt? Who will be responsible? Which way did they go?"

Ruka stared in disbelief at her friend. Just when did he start acting like a protective, fussy mother? He was scaring her slightly.

"Well…" She spoke up and thought about what he asked her. "No, yes, no, no; in answer to your first four questions. As for the rest: Yuuki-sama wanted to go on the ride, and I don't think she'll get hurt because Akatsuki is with her… Hanabusa?" She noticed he was no longer beside her and wondered where he had rushed off to.

Hanabusa had begun his marathon yet again when he saw Akatsuki and Yuuki passing by, leaving Ruka alone, answering his queries. He didn't like the idea of Yuuki being on such a dangerous ride, so he chased after them to ask her to stop.

"Yuuki-sama!" Hanabusa held up his right hand. "Akatsuki!"

Unfortunately, Akatsuki and Yuuki were not able to hear Hanabusa's frantic shouts over their laughter.

"Can we go faster?" Yuuki asked, with hopeful eyes.

"Sure." Akatsuki accepted the request. "Let's go a bit faster, Charles." He then squeezed the horse with his legs, and they were soon trotting around the field; leaving a miserable Hanabusa tailing behind them.

* * *

**.**

**Five years later**

**In the Aidou Library**

Yuuki was dying of boredom in the library as her personal teacher reminded her of the vampire pyramid and how they resembled a food chain. She had been stuck with her teacher since eight o'clock in the evening and now it was well past midnight. They hadn't had any breaks yet and they had already covered plenty of subjects.

It was not that Yuuki _wasn't _interested in learning, but four hours of learning: Arithmetic, History, Geography, French, English and Latin, just to name a few, was an absolute _torture_ without breaks.

"Level E vampires are the ex-humans who have been turned into vampires, lost their human instincts to bloodlust, and became monsters that—Michiru-sama." The teacher stopped lecturing and respectfully bowed to the noble who suddenly appeared next to Yuuki.

"I'll take it over from here. Thank you, Akina." Michiru plastered a kind smile on her face and gestured her hand to the door. She then glanced over to look at the young pureblood.

"Konbanwa, Michiru-san." Yuuki politely greeted, and nodded her head as acknowledgment of her presence. She closed her Latin textbook and was relieved that she could talk about something that was not academic.

"Good evening to you too, Yuuki-sama." Michiru gracefully walked over to the opposite end of the desk and sat down. "How are your studies going?"

"They are fine." Yuuki said succinctly, and gave a half hearted smile.

"What is your favorite subject then?"

"History. It's… intriguing."

Michiru agreed with her and reclined on her chair. "It's amazing to learn about what people did in the past; especially to learn about great leaders and their accomplishments, no?"

"Yes, indeed. That is why I like that subject." Yuuki beamed, and looked into the aquamarine eyes of Michiru; they remind her so much of Hanabusa. Aidou Michiru was most certainly as good looking as her only son.

"Hmmm… it seemed you were bored at first when Akina went over the hierarchy." Michiru probed, her elbows resting on the mahogany desk between them.

"Really?" Yuuki pretended that Michiru had mistaken her boredom for something else. "I did?"

"You sure did. It was clear from your expression yet I understand why you would have thought so." Michiru paused and exhaled. "But you must understand your devoir as a pureblood, Yuuki. According to your parents, you are betrothed to Kaname-sama."

Yuuki blushed at the thought of marrying her own brother. She lowered her gaze and replied: "I know…"

"And you're going to continue the Kuran blood line by providing an heir."

The statement did not make Yuuki's blush go away, but deepen into a darker shade. Indeed, she loves her Kaname-oniisama dearly… but she wasn't entirely sure whether it was simply because he was her brother. She cared and worried about him everyday like any normal family member would.

She loves being with him certainly, and everything about him, ranging from his reserved yet gentle personality to his attractive demeanor and handsome face. They had always said that when they grow up, they would be just like their mother and father; married and living happily ever after.

But the thought of providing an heir to their clan, which meant being intimated with one another, led to other unwanted thoughts that made Yuuki flush and mentally scolded herself for doing so.

"Anyway, Yuuki-sama, you are twelve years old and your soiree is still three years away." Michiru mildly reminded, and Yuuki snapped back into reality. "As your guardian, I must prepare your entry into society. You are no longer a child, my dear."

The idea of soiree thrilled and horrified Yuuki at the same time. She wanted to go out beyond the walls of the Aidou manor and see the outside world. She knew that after that night, she could see Kaname more, and maybe even live with him. But she was horrified by it, because there were so many preparations for that night and it had to be perfect. She was afraid that she would mess up and embarrass the Kuran clan.

"I understand, but it's just… there's so many things to learn about in a short time!" Yuuki restrained herself from banging her head on her textbooks.

"Ah... yes, but you do have three years. I believe in you, and you have my support. I will certainly turn you into a lady." Michiru placed her hand over Yuuki's hand and praised: "You are a fast learner."

Yuuki felt slightly better upon hearing Michiru's comfort words and concluded that she would not want to disappoint her. "Thank you."

"Good, that's the spirit. We'll start your etiquette lessons tomorrow at nine o'clock. Don't be late."

* * *

**.**

**Three o'clock in the morning; Kaname's Bedroom**

"Yuuki, that is why we have to control our emotions, and maintain a calm composure at all times. It affects our surroundings and the objects we have contact with." Kaname explained to his younger sister.

"Oh…" Yuuki placed her index finger on her chin and looked up. "Then that explains why all of the vases in the art room exploded when Hanabusa ruined my painting yesterday…" she frowned at the memory of that incident, as she had spent hours painting the picture of roses.

"He did what?"

"Nothing… anyway, I'll try my best not to let my emotions get a hold of me." she said, although she didn't guarantee it, because she knew that she couldn't suppress all of her emotions down in her body. She would just have to learn to be careful whenever she is angry or upset. Even though she was a vampire; she still has feelings like any human being would have.

He nodded his head and continued. "It's crucial, as we are not supposed to let other people know what we are thinking."

"Why?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. She didn't understand the harm of having the people you love know what you're thinking.

"They can manipulate our thoughts." he simply replied, lying down on his bed.

She was confused and hovered over him. "Why would they do that?"

"Because not everyone is nice and loyal as the Aidous…" he patted her head. "There are people outside of this manor who want our blood to gain power. Therefore _never _let anyone drink your blood." His hand slid down onto her neck. "It would be a taboo."

"Not even to you? But you let me drink your blood…"

"It's okay as long as it's between you and I." he stared at her throat and wondered what her blood would taste like. The sight was tempting and he suddenly felt thirsty. He unconsciously leaned towards her, causing her to back away at the sudden closeness.

"What are you doing, onii-sama?" she nervously stuttered, feeling her whole body tense as she saw his crimson eyes glinting.

"Ah… sorry for scaring you… I'm just too tired." he said, faking a yawn and smiling reassuringly at her. "I'm going to rest now." He quickly withdrew his hand and closed his eyes.

"Good night, onii-sama." Yuuki said quietly to her brother, watching him sleep. "It would never become a taboo with you…" she whispered, before clambering off his bed and walking towards the door.

The 'sleeping' Kaname tried very hard not to allow a broad smile to stretch across his face in response.

**.**

* * *

**Authoress' Note: **Hmm...so what did you guys think of the chapter? Do you like where the story is heading towards to? So Yuuki's (assigned) devoir is revealed: She has to marry her brother and continue their bloodline (doesn't this remind you of women's roles in the 18/19th century?), but now, the question is…what is her own devoir? Or in other words, is that her one and only duty?

Next chapter: Etiquettes

February 20, 2009


	7. Lessons

My deepest apologies, it has been few weeks since I last updated. I had been busy with schoolwork and was quite down emotionally for a while. Something has happened between my childhood friend and I that caused us to stop talking to each other *sighs*…

Anyways, here's the chapter and I thank VampireMaddy for beta-ing it. Personally I think the chapter was weird and awkward (when I first showed it to her), but she helped me fix it and gave great suggestions^^. She's such an awesome beta reader xD.

Disclaimer: Vampire Knight © 2005 by Hino Matsuri

* * *

**Chapter 7: Lessons**

**.**

**.**

**Etiquette Lesson # 1: Posture & Poise Are a Necessity**

Today was Yuuki's first day of etiquette lessons and so far she wasn't doing well. She seemed to lack the natural grace and manners belonging to a princess. She was going to be in for _months_ of training.

"Head erect, look straight, loosen your shoulders, but no slouching," Michiru strictly instructed to the perplexed Yuuki standing before her, "Your chin is tucked in too much; raise it a little… now it's too much. It looks like you're looking at the ceiling. Lower it… there we go. Hold it."

Michiru then placed a couple of books on Yuuki's head. "Now I want you to walk without the books falling off. Just think straight and stand tall."

Yuuki, focusing hard on balancing the books on top of her head, slowly moved forward one step at a time. She started smiling after she took her fifth step without falling, but the smile disappeared when the books went tumbling down.

"Argh…almost got it!" Yuuki muttered to herself, and got back on her feet.

"Don't try too hard. Relax a bit and shift your weigh from one foot to the other," Michiru advised, picking up the fallen books and placing them on the princess's head again. "It's not that hard, darling."

Yuuki wanted to argue back that it was easy for Michiru to say as she was not doing the practice but she held her tongue. She sighed inwardly and made another attempt to glide through the room without the books falling. But to her dismay, the books kept falling every time she took a step.

"Try again. Remember to shift your weigh." Michiru reminded the umpteenth time.

"I am! I'm trying, but it's not working," Yuuki was losing her patience and wanted to give up. She then added in a low voice, "It's not as easy as you pretend!"

Unfortunately, Michiru heard Yuuki's last statement and arched an eyebrow at her. She took the books from Yuuki and positioned them on her own head. She then walked across the room gracefully and not a book fell from her head. Yuuki's eyes widened in amazement and she was left speechless.

Michiru grinned at her student and inquired: "Now if I can do it, why can't you? Try again."

**Etiquette Lesson # 2: Experiments Are Not For Ladies**

Michiru's eyes scanned at the apparel Yuuki was wearing from head to toe. She was swamped in disapproval as she regarded the once beautiful pink silky dress which was now covered in dirt stained with an unknown liquid.

"Yuuki-sama, may I ask what happened to your dress?" Michiru questioned in a calm voice.

"Um… I was helping Hanabusa with his experiment." Yuuki replied, glancing down at her dress.

"I see." Michiru stated. "Well, from now on I don't want you to spend that much time with him in the lab. After all, it's dangerous in there with so many chemicals," Michiru said worriedly. She clearly didn't like the idea of her husband letting their son having a lab in their manor. "Also, be very careful when you're playing outside in the garden. I don't want to see your clothes getting dirty. A princess should always keep her clothing clean and spotless."

**Etiquette Lesson # 3: 'One Must Move Gracefully In All Footwear'**

"Now that you can walk properly it is time that you try walking in high heels." Michiru said, unwrapping a box before taking out a pair of white high heels. She then handed it over to Yuuki, who was quietly sitting down on a chair, and told her to try them on.

Yuuki stared down at the pair of new shoes and reluctantly slipped her feet out of her comfortable ballet flats. She put the high heels on and stood up. She felt she was a bit taller and that it would be easy to lose her balance.

Michiru urged her to stroll around the room to get used to the feeling of wearing heeled shoes. Yuuki nodded and as her shoes made contact with the floor it made loud clanking noises that echoed across the room.

"Umm… perhaps you can work on controlling the noises you're making," Michiru commented. "Minimize the noise and imagine you're walking on thin air."

The pureblood froze in her movements and pondered whether it was even possible to walk without making any noise at all. She shuffled her feet a couple of times and listened to the sounds she was making.

"Oh, and you are not allowed to use your powers to hide the noises. I want you to practice the old-fashioned way."

_What? We can use our vampire powers to eliminate the unwanted noises of our shoes? _

"Hai (yes)." Yuuki said, secretly making a mental note to ask her brother later on about that ability.

* * *

**.**

**Pureblood's Lesson # 1: Disintegration**

Kaname held up a book and showed it to his sister. "All you have to do is focus on the object and imagine it falling apart, and then it will disintegrate. Now, you try it."

Yuuki bit her lower lip and firmly squinted her eyes at the book. She thought of the book breaking down into little pieces and began to feel determined as she felt power running through her veins. The book soon disintegrated into the air.

"Good job." he praised.

"Thank you." she smiled, wishing that her etiquette lessons could be this easy.

**Pureblood's Lesson # 2: Telepathy**

"Try to read my mind," Kaname said, closing his eyes to relieve the pressure he was giving to Yuuki. "Remember to relax and not to think so much. I'll loosen the barrier around my mind so you can gain access to it."

Yuuki exhaled and cleared the train of thoughts she was having. She fixed her eyes at her brother and noticed that he was slightly smiling. She wondered why he was smiling and proceeded to find out.

She thought hard and imagined herself unlocking a door to his mind. The door wouldn't budge and she frowned. She was struggling as the doorknob refused to turn. She wanted to kick at it, but she knew that that would just complicate things.

She felt defeated and slumped down in front of the door. As her body touched the ground, she felt a keen object poking at her and immediately rose up in surprise. She looked down at the object and observed that it was a key.

She bent down and picked the bronze key that had her brother's name and their family symbol imprinted on it. It was the key to his mind and she had somehow obtained it. She smiled and jabbed the key to where it belonged.

The door clicked and she heard his voice, or more precisely, his thoughts.

'_I wonder if she has got it. It has been a while now. What to think about? It's so boring not being allowed to look at her or talk to her. Hmm… let's see, I have that council meeting next week to attend. I also have to do some researches on the noble families. I have to ask Takuma to do that when I make my return…'_

Yuuki got curious and continued to read his thoughts. Why did he have to do research on the noble families? Was one of them the Aidous?

'_Yuuki certainly looks beautiful today, she is growing up so fast. Michiru is doing a fine job on the lessons; Yuuki is indeed becoming quite the lady. I will have to give Michiru my gratitude later on. Hmm…perhaps soon Yuuki and I can return to sharing the same house, free from interfering guardians… Ah! I shouldn't have thought about that subject. She could be reading my mind right now. Think of another subject. Another subject …'_

Blushing heavily, Yuuki decided to stop invading his mind and spoke. "I read your thoughts, but only a few. I read the part where you were bored and had a council meeting to attend to."

Kaname opened his eyes and replied in an uneasy tone, "Is that all?"

"Yes." she lied and nodded her head. She knew he would be embarrassed if he found out that she had read that 'unwanted thought' of his. It was a sweet compliment and she wished that he could have said it out loud.

She put on a very convincing expression and thought of nothing in her own mind to prevent him from reading her thoughts. The problem was that she didn't yet know how to protect her mind and her powers were weaker than Kaname's. Therefore he was able to read her thoughts with ease.

"Very well then, let's take a break, shall we?" he suggested.

* * *

**.**

**Two o'clock in the morning: Yuuki's Bedroom**

Silence fell upon the two purebloods as Kaname announced that he was going to stop visiting Yuuki for a while. She felt bewildered for a moment, because she didn't want him to leave her. Seeing him only twice a week was already torture, and now he was going to extend his absences even more.

Luckily, she managed to keep a calm composure and sipped quietly at her cup of tea. The last thing she wanted to do was letting him see through her façade that she was in fear of losing him.

Solitude was more frightening than the dark and she didn't want to be alone. Even though she had the Aidous with her, they were not her biological family. She loved them, indeed, but the love could never be the same as the one she has for her parents and brother.

She always felt lonely when he was gone and each morning as dawn broke she would lie on her large bed and stare at the white ceiling above her, longing for her parents' warm embraces and soothing words.

"I see," Yuuki answered indifferently, stirring her spoon in the cup. "How long will you be away?"

"About a year or so, it all depends how quickly the academy is finished. The construction is in progress and paperwork is filed." Kaname said, observing her every movement to figure out whether she was angry or not.

Ah, the academy, or _Cross Academy_ to be exact. The boarding high school was going to be established for humans and vampires to prove that both races of species could live together in harmony. This was all part of Cross Kaien's idea of pacifism which he strongly believed could succeed.

"Do you know Cross Kaien well? His background?" she couldn't help but inquire.

"He is one of our parents' good friends; honest and trustworthy I would say. It turned out that it was mother's dream to have this academy established."

"Okaa-sama…?" she nearly dropped her cup as an image of Juuri smiling at her appeared in her mind.

"Yes, when she was pregnant with you, she went to see Kaien despite father's objection, in order to make a deal with him. She wanted us to have a different future than what we were fated with. She wanted us to explore the world and enjoy our lives."

She nodded her head and understood that their mother always wanted the best for them. It would be nice to travel around the world and meet other people who were humans. The first step of entering that world would be attending the new academy.

"So… is he a human? What are humans like?" she asked, wondering what creatures humans were and how they lived.

"They are quite similar to us in appearances. But, unlike us, they don't have any powers and their vital sources are food and water." he explained.

"Hmm…interesting then," she closed her eyes to rest. "Do you really have to go?"

"…Yes. I would like to fulfill Mother's dream and I want to see if we really can live with humans in peace."

"Is there any way I can stop you from doing so?" she asked in a low voice and lifted her eyelids to look at him.

Kaname stared into her eyes and saw the emptiness there. As much as she liked the idea of freedom and going outside of the manor she was living in, she clearly did not want him to leave her.

"Yuuki…"

She suddenly plastered a fake smile on her face and bitterly said: "Ignore that. I was just fooling around. It's your devoir. I hope all goes well. I give you my best wishes." She then placed her drink on the table and walked over to the window.

The reflection of the glass gave away what she was feeling as she frowned whilst looking outside. She felt useless as she was unable to have him remain by her side. She couldn't change his decisions and never would. Why couldn't he understand that all she wanted was him? To be with him and to live together?

He didn't know what to do or what to say, but his instincts told him to hug her and so he did. "I promise I'll write to you every day, or as much as I can."

"A letter a day, huh?" this time she gave a real smile and challenged him. "Can you really do that?"

"Even if you don't respond, I'll continue to write, my dear girl." He smiled back and leaned in to kiss her hair.

**.**

* * *

**.**

**Sneak Preview of**

**Chapter 8: Unrequited Love**

"…I love you, Yuuki."

Yuuki's body stiffened as she heard the words left his mouth. She gazed back at him and was confused with her feelings. He was waiting for a response and she didn't know what to say.

She was indeed surprised as she never knew that he had felt about her in that way. It was drinking his blood to calm her thirst made her realize the romantic feelings he harbored for her. He had thought of her constantly and treasured the memories they shared ever since she entered his life.

"I…I…," she stuttered when she found strength in her voice again, "I love you too…but only as an older brother."

A pang of guilt hit her as she heard herself saying those words. She immediately lowered her gaze and felt ashamed of herself.

_To be continue…_

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**A/N:** Constructive criticism/thoughtful comments/requests are all welcomed =].

March 16, 2009


	8. Unrequited Love

Thank you everyone for your kind support, patience, reviews, and cookies^^!

And special thanks to my wonderful beta-reader, VampireMaddy, for helping me with my grammar and giving splendid suggestions as always =D !

Here's the chapter that you readers have been waiting for. Sorry for the long wait! Now, drumroll please...

Disclaimer: Vampire Knight © 2005 by Hino Matsuri

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**Chapter 8: Unrequited Love**

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**.**

**_Three Years Later…_**

"_Yuuki-sama!"_

"_Yuuki-sama!"_

The maids frantically called out as they tried to search for their adolescent princess. They were losing precious time that should be spent preparing the mansion for the arrival of Kuran Kaname. Michiru had rigidly instructed them to get Yuuki ready and correctly dressed before midnight.

"You girls go check the east wing whilst I check the west." Miki said to her fellow maids, gesturing one of her hands towards the long staircase which led to both wings.

All of the maids nodded their heads and went to their assigned wings to speed up the process of finding Yuuki. As much as they adorn their gentle princess, they often became frustrated because for the past six months this had been her customary reaction whenever the Kuran prince came to visit. The maids could never understand why the princess would want to behave in such an immature fashion, but they _did _remember that it usually took a good three hours to locate her and one hour to change her clothes.

Meanwhile, Yuuki lifted her long chemise above her knee level to enable her to run more freely. She went through many rooms searching for a place to hide; confusing the maids in the process as her scent faintly lingered everywhere in the household. But she knew the maids were getting good at this 'hide-and-go-seek' game, so she had to keep moving.

There was also a familiar tingling sensation in her throat as her thirst for blood started to become uncomfortable.

Her eyes roamed the hallway she was scampering through and occasionally gave nervous glances behind her to see if the maids had seen her. She then came across a familiar room and went in without knocking.

She abruptly closed the door as she made her ingress and caught her breath. She glanced around the room to see if Hanabusa was in and it seemed he wasn't.

"I should be safe for now." she reassured herself. She moved away from the door and concentrated on making the feeling of her presence disappear so no one would realise she was in Hanabusa's bedroom.

"Yuuki-sama...?" Hanabusa queried, emerging from his bathroom and drying his wet hair with a towel. He was surprised to see her in his bedroom; more importantly to see her in such a disheveled yet _attractive_ appearance.

Before Yuuki could explain herself someone knocked on the door. She held a finger to her lips to indicate that she didn't want him to rat her out.

Hanabusa, who was still gawking at her, couldn't quite register what she wanted him to do, but the persistent knocking soon snapped him back to reality. "Come in." he answered, and resumed drying his hair.

The door opened and Yuuki quickly hid behind the wooden door. Luckily, the maid was a Level C vampire and therefore was not that sensitive to pureblood's presences. For once, Yuuki was glad she had learnt the hierarchy of their vampire society.

"Good-evening, Hanabusa-sama. Sorry to disturb you… but have you seen Yuuki-sama?" the maid politely asked.

"Yuuki-sama? Why no, I haven't." He replied, looking casual.

"Would you happen to know where she would be?"

"Hmmm…have you checked the garden?" he suggested randomly.

The maid thanked Hanabusa and excused herself to proceed to the garden. Hanabusa turned his head towards Yuuki, asking for an explanation.

"So what brings you to my room, Yuuki-sama?" he decided to be straightforward and leant against his desk.

"To escape from your mother's wrath." she jested, in an attempt to avoid the issue of the real situation, concentrating on the stinging in her throat to distract herself.

"Ah… I see. You always are anyway. But seriously, Yuuki-sama…"

"I…" her voice trailed off as she sat on his bed. She couldn't deny it any longer and besides, he clearly wanted to know the truth. "Kaname-oniisama is coming tonight."

So that was the _crisis. _

Kaname was the only person who could bring such joy and sorrow to Yuuki at the same time. He was the center of her life and the reason her existence mattered. It was obvious that he loved and cared about her just as much as she; the dark aura around him always changed when she entered the room and his gentle side always appeared.

But one thing Hanabusa couldn't comprehend was if Kaname loves Yuuki so much, then why does he keep hurting her? Why does he keep bringing disappointment in her life?

"Aren't you looking forward to it?" Hanabusa asked. It was an unnecessary question.

"No, because he might not come at all. It's a false alarm," she bit her lower lip hard to the point that blood was going to exude. "I don't want any more false hopes. I dislike it." She clutched her fists and lay down on the bed.

Hanabusa agreed and thought back to the times when Kaname had claimed that he was going to visit her. In the end he didn't and instead had some last minute errands to do. It made Hanabusa's heart ache every time he saw her turned lifeless with disappointment, like a broken doll.

If Kaname also failed to turn tonight it would be the sixth time he had broken her heart. However she might already have adapted to her usual routine of pretending to be indifferent at first before isolating herself from the others for the next few days.

"Don't be so pessimistic," he placed his towel on his desk and traipsed over to his bed, staring down at her pale complexion, "He might come this time."

"Umm…" she mumbled, feeling the sudden pang in her throat becoming unbearable. She shut her eyes as her hands reached to her throat. The pain was excruciating and she knew what her body wanted.

Hanabusa was not surprised that this was happening and he sighed heavily.

"There is no use fighting it, Yuuki-sama. You haven't drunk blood for one year now," he stated pointedly.

He was right. Yuuki had refused to take in blood ever since Kaname stopped writing letters to her, over a year ago. For the past two years prior to that, she had been reluctantly accepting blood from Michiru to nurture her growing body.

"I… do not… need…it," she drawled. Her breath was becoming raspier and she felt her whole body burning. "I can… survive without it." She gritted her teeth and rolled to the other side of the bed as she didn't want him to see her in such state.

Yuuki ignored the weight shift on the mattress and the pair of hands that forced her to turn around. She was immersed in pain.

"Baka, you're in denial," He angrily furrowed his eyebrows at her and scolded her. "Stop being so foolish! Do you think torturing yourself like this will get him back? Would it really make a difference? Do you think he really cares? If he does, then _where is he_?"

Shooting him a murderous look with her raging eyes, she refrained from the urge to slapping him across his handsome face. "Do not talk about Kaname-oniisama like that!" she replied vehemently. "This has nothing to do with him. I just don't want any blood."

_What a lie! Blood was essential and precious to vampires; without it, they wouldn't be able to survive. _

Instead of retorting back at her, Hanabusa softened his expression, knowing that this wasn't the best time for a debate over the importance of blood. As much as he would like to argue back, he controlled himself and tried to think of a way to persuade her to drink his blood.

"I know and I'm sorry. But, if you love yourself, then you wouldn't do this." He darted his eyes to the nightstand next to them. "I can tell that you are beginning to suffer malnutrition and becoming weaker than usual." He paused for a moment. "For his sake, you should at least take a small amount of blood now to have some energy and look more alive. Who knows? Maybe he'll come by today. If he sees you in this condition then he'll feel wretched."

Yuuki's tantrum slowly subsided and she regained her composure. Despite his bitter remark at first, Hanabusa always knew the right thing to say.

"…And if you're going to tell me that you don't care about him anymore, at least do it for your sake. Remember there are other people who care about you deeply, who can't stand seeing you suffer… and one of them is me." He smiled and leaned down towards her.

She observed his actions and began to feel slightly uncomfortable at how close to each other their faces had become.

"So if you don't mind, I would like to offer you my blood." He pulled down the already unbuttoned collar of his dress shirt to expose his neck.

Her eyes widened and she nervously glanced at his neck. Temptation was drawing her in; she could physically see the noble blood that ran through his veins.

"Go ahead," he urged. "Take as much as you need."

"No," she weakly pushed him away and sat up. "I cannot accept a generous offer made only because you feel obligated. It would be taking advantage of my pureblood status. I do not want that."

_Because I only desire onii-sama's blood and I don't want anyone other than him._

He frowned upon her accusation of feeling obligated towards her and replied: "I'm doing this because… I care about you. It has nothing to do with you being a pureblood." He sighed. "You don't have to if you don't want to. It was just an offer."

Indeed, it would be an honor for Hanabusa if she drank his blood because, after all, a pureblood accepting blood from a noble was quite rare.

"…Or is it because my blood is not good enough for you?" He muttered under his breath.

She winced at the last statement he made and pondered if she should take the offer after all. She was beginning to feel dizzy and her parched throat was driving her insane. She didn't have the energy to be in denial anymore and she was afraid that she was about to faint at any second. It would be bad if that happened and Kaname did come. Maybe one drink won't hurt… yeah, just one drink.

"Hanabusa," she quietly called out to him. "I'll accept it."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and positioned herself. "Thank you." she whispered into his right ear as she bared her fangs.

"Anytime." he responded and braced himself for the bite.

Without bothering to lick the spot where she was going to bite and lessen the pain, she hungrily pierced her fangs into his neck to eagerly drink the red liquid.

Yuuki had almost forgotten the delicious taste of blood and the good feelings it gave her. Her throat was immediately soothed from irritation and she felt quite satisfied. However, his blood was nothing compared to Kaname's._ It wasn't the same. _

Unknowingly, she drank more than the amount she needed and began to read his thoughts. He was thinking of her and his mind was occupied with the memories they had shared together.

Flashbacks of their childhood played through his mind and she had never realised that he was so protective of her. He was always there to comfort and support her in somber times. He had waited and accompanied her each time when Kaname was intending to visit her. He had tucked her in bed when she had fallen asleep waiting for Kaname. He truly cared about her.

Yuuki was left speechless and hastily withdrew her fangs. Hanabusa's blood was dripping from her mouth as she sat in a daze.

"How do you feel?" he asked, wiping his blood off her chin with his hand.

She couldn't believe that he had, again, thought of her well-being over his. She stared down at his now bloodstained dress shirt.

"Why…why…" she mumbled and her eyes roamed the bed sheets spread out below her as awkwardness pervaded the room.

"Yuuki, are you alright?" he asked; he was getting anxious at her strange reaction.

She elevated her eyesight to his and bluntly asked: "Why do you care so much about me?"

"Because…because…"

His mouth tightened as he refused to form the words that his brain was urging incessantly for him to spit them out. He didn't know how to express those three words; those words which sounded so simply yet held such meaning and complexity.

"Because," he repeated his new favorite word, "I… I love you, Yuuki." He looked directly into her red velvet eyes with confidence, feeling suddenly bold. He didn't give a thought to the consequences of his actions or if his love could even be reciprocated. He just wanted her to know that he loved her.

There was no need to question what kind of love he felt towards her; she could articulate his feelings just from drinking his blood. As a vampire, it was incredible how drinking one's blood could tell you so much about the person you were drawing blood from. She perceived that the feelings were romantic and somewhat similar to the ones Kaname had.

Her body stiffened as she heard the words rolled off his tongue. She gazed back at him and was confused with her feelings. He was waiting for a response and she didn't know what to say.

She was indeed dumbfounded by the romantic feelings he harbored for her. She only saw him as a brotherly figure and nothing more. It would break his heart if she told him that, but she knew she was bad at lying and deceiving herself. After all, her best personality traits were being honest and straight forward. Many people saw it as a blessing or curse; for her it was both.

"I…I…" she stuttered when she found the strength in her voice again, "I love you too… but only as an older brother."

How ironic. She loved Hanabusa as an elder brother, and her biological brother Kaname as a man.

Feeling agonized she immediately hung her head low with her bangs covering her eyes. He was wonderful to her and she was so _cruel_ to him.

Hanabusa had a stoic expression upon his face and had already predicted that the fate of this love would be unrequited. How could he possibly compare to Kaname? Hanabusa was a noble vampire, who was gifted and talented in science like every male member in the Aidou household. He was going to follow his father's footsteps and continue the family's medical business they held in human society.

Kaname, on the other hand, was a pureblood prince, descended from a royal family that once ruled over all the vampires. He would have been their future king if one of the previous Kurans had not set down the throne and allowed the Ancient Council to rule in their stead. Hanabusa sometimes wondered what Kaname would be like if he had become their ruler. Hanabusa recognised that he did have the potential to be their leader as he was powerful, ominous, and successful in anything he did.

Hanabusa couldn't help but bitterly laugh at the rejection he received. He was silly for thinking that Yuuki would ever accept and return his love. She was a pureblood for goodness sake, and was betrothed to _Kaname_.

Yuuki was taken back at the abrupt laughter and her eyes glinted at him. She wasn't sure whether or not he was laughing at her. It was bothersome and she silently prayed, or hoped, that he was not angry or hurt.

"What's so funny?" she inquired, fixing her eyes upon him.

He ceased his guffaw and forced a smile to spread across his face. "Who said anything about me loving you in a romantic way? I only love you as a sister," he lied and crossed his arms. "You're thinking too much. Also, you're such a clumsy and stubborn person. My ideal mate would be someone who is bright, rational, and exquisite—in which you don't possess all three."

Usually when Yuuki heard those comments, she would playfully abuse him and name all the flaws she found in him. But today, she felt incapable of doing so, because she knew he was putting an act. The purpose of his act was to allow her to move on without feeling guilty and hold no pity for him.

"Anyway, you're wasting time being here. You should stop giving the maids a headache, and let them do their jobs. My mother will be outraged if she finds that you're still not dressed." He stood up and pulled her out off his bed. "Your prince awaits you, so off you go. Be a good girl, okay?"

With that statement, he ushered the damsel in distress out of his room.

* * *

**.**

**A quarter before midnight; Yuuki's Bedroom**

Yuuki stared at her reflection in the full length framed mirror. This time, Michiru had arranged a classic Lolita style dress as her apparel for the evening. Yuuki didn't like the dress, but was grateful that there were fewer frills and laces than the previous dresses she had worn.

The raiment had an empire waist and revealed her milky white neck with a small bow tied sideways. Another bow was neatly tied behind her back, and there were tiny floral prints on the ruffled sleeves.

"You look lovely, my dear." Michiru complimented, clasping her hands together.

"Thank you," Yuuki kindly replied, adjusting her black headband. "Is… is he really going to come this time?" she asked timidly.

"Why, of course. He called earlier saying that he was on his way."

"He called? What? _When_?" Yuuki was astonished and turned around to face her etiquette teacher. "How come I didn't know?"

Michiru stood with her arms akimbo and said: "It was few hours ago when you were running away from the maids," she narrowed her eyes at her student. "If you were in your room like you were _supposed_ to be, you could have had the chance to talk to him."

"Oh…" Yuuki regretted her childish behavior earlier and nervously intertwined her fingers. "Michiru-san? Just out of curiosity, why did you marry your husband?"

Michiru blinked a couple times as the question caught her off guard. The young maiden was inquiring about her love life and why she had chosen Nagamichi.

"Because we love each other." Michiru simply answered and fell to reminiscing about how she had fallen in love with her husband.

"Was it an arranged marriage?"

"No, but we were childhood friends and grew up together. Our families have a good relationship as business partners and friends," Michiru grabbed a brush from the lilac vanity desk. She gestured Yuuki to sit down on a chair. "So our parents would occasionally schedule play dates when they had business to attend do."

"What do you like about him then?"

"Everything, from his sense of humor to his arrogance. But, I must say, he can be so irritating when he's aggressive. I just ignore him in those moments."

"Just like Hanabusa, huh?" Yuuki said in a low tone.

"Yes, apparently my dear son has inherited his father's arrogance." Michiru sighed and began combing Yuuki's hair. "I'm so glad my daughters have turned out normal."

Yuuki couldn't help but giggle at Michiru's last statement.

_But, luckily he inherited your kindness and charms. Hopefully, he'll find a lover who will cherish him better than I did._

Glancing at the grandfather's clock in the parlour, Yuuki closed the book she had been semi-reading for five hours. Michiru had lied; no wait, _Kaname_ had lied. He hadn't come and she felt dejected.

She rose from the sofa and covered her mouth as she yawned. Dawn was approaching and she knew she really should go to bed. She left the room and strolled down the dark corridor. No maids, butlers or Aidous were in sight as they were all probably either asleep or busy doing their daily chores.

She soon reached to her bedchamber and squinted her eyes tightly shut as rays of sunlight shone through her windows.

"Argh, it's still not a gentle thing," she briskly raised her right hand and the curtains were sealed shut by an unknown force. "Much better." She then waved her other hand to light a couple of candles around her room.

Through her fifteenth years of her life Yuuki barely went outside of the mansion during dawn and daylight hours. Her eyes were still extremely sensitive to the sun due to being confined in a basement for the first five years of her life. She had tried the treatments the Aidous had proposed to her, such as gradually exposing her eyes to the sunlight so they could adapt, but it never worked as the sunlight stung her eyes badly every time she came into contact with it.

She walked over to the vanity desk and took out some letters from one of the drawers. Unfolding the partially crinkled letters, she re-read them and was jealous of her brother's penmanship. He wrote in such elegant and beautiful handwriting whilst her calligraphy was plain.

The letter, she was holding, read:

_My dearest Yuuki,_

_It has been 520 days since we departed from each other. How are you doing? Are the Aidous treating you well? Is Hanabusa looking after you? _

_I apologise for this late mail as I was visiting the Council of Elders to discuss about Cross Academy. There were oppositions as expected, but I gained some support from other families that I encountered. The construction of the academy is almost done as the two dormitories for the students and classrooms are built. It will take a few more months until we can send out the enrollment forms to the humans and much later to our fellow vampires._

_Anyway, Kiryu Zero—Kaien's adopted son who I mentioned about in the previous letters—and I are not getting along. I think he detest me for some particular reason… All I know is that he's unhappy about the establishment of the academy, but sooner or later he has to accept it. _

_I have to get going. I'll write you a longer letter next time. Take care._

_Yours,  
Kaname_

"Are you coming back at all?" she asked to no one in particular. She exhaled deeply and decided to go to sleep; there was no use in sulking and complaining. She put away the letters and dragged her feet to her closet to change into her night gown.

She froze in her actions when she heard the soft tapping sound of shoes echoing down the corridor causing her heartbeat to accelerate; she could recognize those noises anywhere.

The footsteps halted behind her as she slowly spun around to see her guest. She held her breath as the tall figure stepped into the dimly lit atmosphere.

It was Kaname, standing at the doorway with a smile spread across his face. Their red velvet eyes mirrored one another and Yuuki didn't know whether or not she was hallucinating.

They stared at each other and noticed that both of them had drastic changes in their physical appearance. They were both adolescents now entering into adulthood.

Kaname was certainly becoming a fine young man. He didn't have any major changes but he had grown taller and his shoulders were broader. As he walked he carried a majestic aura and his eyes were filled with tender affection as he gazed over her own altered appearance.

As for Yuuki, she no longer possessed a child's body and was now more beautiful than ever. Her face had lost the once adorable baby fat and held an angular shape. Her straight auburn tresses now reached to her waist and her body frame was petite and slim.

Silence fell upon them both as the many emotions coursed through their bodies like wildfire. They yearned for each other's touch and to hear the voice that would claim them.

Tears were quickly brimming and threatening to spill from Yuuki's eyes, but she refused to them fall as she needed to be strong. Kaname took this opportunity to approach her.

"Yuuki…" he warmly called out, caressing her right cheek with his hand.

The touch felt pleasant to Yuuki and she placed her hand over his. She closed her eyes contentedly and murmured: "Onii-sama…"

**.**

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**A/N:** So were you readers surprised =]? What did you think of the chapter? Comments would be lovely xD.

Oh, I have good news and bad news for this story. Let me start with the bad news:

Bad News: That was the last chapter of this story... I have decided to end my story there as I simply have no time for writing. I need to focus more in my schoolwork and the career I'm heading towards to.

Good News: Happy belated April Fools' Day^^. I was joking at first; this story is not ending anytime soon. The 'original bad news' was that I won't be able to update for a while, but spring break is next week for me. I get an entire week off, meaning I should be able to update faster to make-up for the slow progress of this story. =]

April 2, 2009 - 3 more days until my birthday, darn I feel I'm getting old!


	9. Unsorted Feelings

Greetings!

Yes, I have finally updated this story. This is not an announcement page and is, indeed, a chapter. I must first apologize for the long wait (a year to be exact!) as I had some personal affairs to tend. Let's just say this whole year for me has been chaotic and crazy. I got really busy and stressed at school because I'll be attending a university very soon. Anyways, I must express my gratitude to all you readers! I have tried to reply to each and every review—but unfortunately I had lost track on who I replied to…and I didn't want to send out double posts (spamming, much?). However, I did read every one of them and loved very much. Without those reviews, I think I would have lost motivation for continuing this story.

Now, I'm going to stop talking and let you readers enjoy this chapter. I once again, thank my dear beta-reader VampireMaddy for editing it. I find it incredible that she can put up with me and my ridiculous grammatical errors^^.

_Disclaimer: Vampire Knight © 2005 by Hino Matsuri_

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**Chapter 9: Unsorted Feelings**

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**.**

The touch felt pleasant to Yuuki and she placed her hand over his. She closed her eyes contentedly and murmured: "Onii-sama…"

"Is it… really you?" Yuuki said. Her eyelids fluttered open, afraid that he was going to vanish if she closed her eyes for too long.

"My dear girl," he pulled her into his embrace and murmured: "of course it's me." He breathed in the sweet rose aroma that was emitting from her hair, but stopped when he smelt a familiar lavender scent.

"I thought I had lost you," she feebly replied, gripping his shirt tightly. "Why did you stop writing? Did something happen?" She was demanding an explanation.

He only paid half attention to her as he was occupied with the fact that Hanabusa's scent was on her body. Has she been in his room? He couldn't help but feel jealous when she spent time with other male vampires.

"Do you know how I felt during these three years?" Her tears were beginning to blur her vision and she blinked furiously in attempt to get rid of them. "Abandoned," she angrily stated. She had the urge to hit him at his chest, but couldn't find any strength to do so. "Otou-sama and Okaa-sama have already left us. I don't want you to leave me as well!"

She had let her tears flow freely down her hot cheeks and sniffled softly. Crying showed a sign of weakness, but she couldn't lie to herself anymore; she was upset. The façade of happiness that she wore on her delicate face was slowly breaking and she didn't care as long as she can be true to her lover.

The windows in the room started to form cracks as Yuuki began losing control of her emotions.

Kaname heard the unpleasant sounds the windows were making and immediately stroked her hair whilst whispering words of comfort to calm her down. He had never seen her this angry and upset before.

"I…I…hate you," she bitterly croaked. "I hate you for doing this to me." She suddenly receded from him and wrapped her arms around herself in a protective manner. "You think you can just come and go as you please, don't you?"

"No, I—"

"No, I don't want any elucidation; you must leave," she shook her head violently. "I would like to be alone." She waited for him to exit her bedroom, but he just stood there with no intention of leaving her side.

Silence fell upon the two and neither of them moved. Yuuki pried a glance at him from the corner of her eye to check that her brother was still present. Her patience was running thin as she felt light-headed from lack of blood.

"Please… _leave_," she said languidly as another sob escaped from her throat. "Just go." She nearly begged as she knew that she was beginning to lose her calm composure. "I implore of you."

Her hope of not letting him see her in such a state diminished as he closed the gap between them. He placed both of his hands on her shoulder and forced her to turn around.

She struggled as he drew her close and spluttered incoherent words.

"Don't touch me!" she finally managed to utter. She knew that she would give in to him once she was in his embrace again. She had to be firm and not forgive him so easily. "Onii-sama, I said do not—"

To her dismay, her sentence was cut-off when he leant in to kiss her. She widened her eyes as he pressed his mouth against her. Her hands dropped loosely by her side; whilst she did not resist him, her anger forbade her from responding.

* * *

**.**

**The Next Night**

The moon rose high as it shone its majestic light on the Aidou Manor. Everybody in the Aidou's household was awake and up as they welcome a new night. The maids and butlers resumed their cleaning duties that they left off yesterday. Most members of the Aidou family were either immersing themselves in a good old book or drinking tea while discussing politics, literature and gossip.

The only person who was still sleeping at this hour was none other than the pureblood princess, Yuuki.

Yuuki stirred in her bed as the night birds sang their hearts out in search of their mates. She lifted her heavy eyelids to see what time it was. However, the room was so dark that she could not find her pocket watch or what the grandfather clock's hands were pointing at.

She let out a yawn and stared at her bedchamber's door. Even though she did not know what time it was, she knew that her maids would burst through that door any moment.

As if on cue, the sounding of knocking and Miki's voice were heard over the other side of the door. The doors then swung open and four maids made haste to properly greet the princess whilst completing their daily routines.

Two of the maids swiftly pulled the curtains back and tied a bow on them to brighten the room with the moonlight. Miki was preparing tea while the other maid was busily picking out a new dress for the princess.

Refraining from the urge of snuggling against her blankets, Yuuki threw her blankets aside and sat up quickly. She tried to plaster a smile on her face but failed when she felt a throbbing pain in her head. She immediately placed her right hand on her forehead and shut her eyes.

"Yuuki-sama?" all the maids stopped at what they were doing. They were suddenly extremely concerned for the princess' well-being ever since she refused to drink any more blood.

Yuuki held up her pale hand and replied, "I'm fine. Don't worry, it's just dizziness. I sat up too fast and I needed some time for my blood to reach to my brain. Resume your work, please." She gave a reassuring smile and the maids continued their work.

Miki offered a cup of hot tea to Yuuki and whispered, "Please take good care of yourself and don't be so reckless, Yuuki-sama." Miki was referring to the obvious fact that Yuuki needed to consume blood on a regular basis.

Yuuki only smiled at her and gently blew at her cup before taking a sip. "Delightful," she commented on the tea and ignored her maid's last remark.

"Thank you. I see that you haven't changed your attire from last night, Yuuki-sama." Miki noticed that Yuuki's once elegant dress had become wrinkled. "You should have called for me, so I could help you change into your nightgown."

"My dress? Oh yes…" Yuuki said, looking down at her black outfit and recalling memories from last night. Was it a dream? Did Kaname come back from his long absence but she got angry at him? She glanced towards the window to see if there were any cracks but there were none. Doubt entered into her mind and she narrowed her eyebrows.

_But … It felt so real. His touch. She felt that his touch was still lingering on her body. _

Her hands unconsciously moved to touch her lips. More importantly, did they really kiss?

* * *

**.**

**In the Garden**

Yuuki gave up on pondering whether Kaname came last night or not. She inquired the maids about his whereabouts, but they wouldn't impart any information, as if they had a secret.

She sighed and slumped her shoulders in a very unladylike manner. She wandered the garden aimlessly in hopes that the fresh air would clear her mind up. She had wanted to ask Michiru, but unfortunately, Michiru was attending some business affairs with her husband.

She soon approached her favorite bench in the garden and lay down on it. She didn't care if her long burgundy hair was going to get dirty or her rosy pink dress was going to have additional black dots embellished upon it. Luckily, Michiru was not here to remind her of how to be a proper lady.

She hugged her book tightly against her chest and stared at the black sky. She frowned; there were not many stars tonight which meant no stargazing. She shifted her attention towards the random book that she had pulled out of the library.

"Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare," she read the book's title aloud.

Great. Right now, the last book that she wanted to read was a love story; especially a story with an ending that was so heart-wrenching. She placed the book by her side and closed her eyes to daydream a little.

Yuuki sometimes wondered what if Kaname was more like Romeo? Romeo was always sweet and loving towards Juliet. He seemed like the ideal lover, but then again he was easily lovesick over rejection, and readily fell in love with Juliet in the next scene. Some ladies are fond of lovesick sappy men, but Yuuki was not.

She liked Kaname for…being Kaname. She liked how he shows his love through his actions rather than through fancy poems and songs. She liked how he would only smile at her. Last but not least, she loved how he made her feel that she was the only one who understands him…

She slowly opened her eyes and reconsidered her thoughts about Kaname. Those thoughts about him were based upon the Kaname of three years ago. As time goes by, things change and do will feelings.

A couple of raindrops fell onto her cheek and she wiped it away with her fingers. More raindrops fell and the sky began to drizzle.

Yuuki did not move as she enjoyed the contact of rain against her skin. It was cool and soothing. She sheltered her eyes from the rain by closing her eyes. She smiled pleasantly and relaxed under the damp atmosphere.

Her moment of peace was disrupted when she couldn't feel the rain on her face anymore. Has it stopped raining? She lazily lifted her eyelids to see a pair of identical wine-colored eyes staring back at her.

_So it wasn't a dream she had last night._

She was speechless at the sight of her beloved brother. He was holding an umbrella while smiling down at her. She nearly had to pinch herself to check the image before her was not an illusion.

"Yuuki, you're going to get wet if you stay out here." He bent down to her level and held the umbrella closer to her.

"Well, I don't mind. I like the rain," she pushed the umbrella away from her and sat up.

"Oh?" he sounded a little amused. She took this opportunity to get off the bench and headed back to the manor.

She took long strides towards the manor and restrained the urge to turn back no matter how tempting it was. Much to her displease, nothing happened, even as she took her seventh step. She then stopped and looked down at her muddy high heels. Her etiquette teacher was going to be very upset upon seeing those shoes and Yuuki would have to come up with another explanation about how they were ruined.

Abruptly, just as Yuuki was debating whether she should take off her shoes and walk in the grass, Kaname came up from behind her and picked her in a manner that a groom would pick up his bride on a wedding day. She let out a gasp of surprise as she was lifted off the ground.

Her eyes ogled at him and noticed that he wasn't holding an umbrella anymore. She did not understand his motivation for the gesture, but at the same time she did not object as it felt so comfortable to be his arms.

In reticence, he carried her back to the manor while she rested her head against his chest. Hearing his heartbeat made her feel at ease. As they entered the Aidou's household, the servants flocked around the pureblood couple.

* * *

**.**

Kaname politely requested for some towels to be arranged in Yuuki's bedroom and the maids scurried to the laundry room. All this time, Yuuki did not speak a word and hid her face in her brother's coat to not let the servants see she was blushing.

Kaname carefully placed Yuuki on the bed and grabbed a big towel from the nightstand. He proceeded to dry her off and ruffled her hair with the towel. "You always have me worried about you."

She didn't answer as he gently wiped her face with the towel. Instead of meeting his countenance, she fixed her eyes upon her hands.

"You have grew thin, my love." he said, noticing how small framed her body was. "Have you been drinking enough blood?"

Still, she did not answer.

"Would you like to drink some of my blood now?" he offered.

No response.

He stopped drying her and sighed. "I see that I'm not wanted here. I shall leave, so the maids can help you change your clothes." He stood upright and turned on his heel.

Without a word, Yuuki reached for his hand to prevent him from leaving her sight.

"No, stay, onii-sama..." She glanced up at him with pleading eyes that was glowing bright red.

**.**

* * *

**Authoress' Note:** That's it for now! I hope you readers liked it. Did anyone of you thought that Yuuki was going to give in? I actually think it was kind of cute that Yuuki tried to stay angry at him. The next chapter will be about the two purebloods as they will try to reconnect with each other. The chapter after that one will finally be about Yuuki's soiree and I'm sure you readers want to see more blood-sucking scenes, right *wink*? Ha-ha, joking. However, there will be this very exciting scene that might be considered as 'hot' or 'steamy', but mind you, that this is a rated teen story—thus it would be sweet instead. =]

Reviews are loved and constructive criticism is welcomed. Tata for now! I have to work on my essay and poster on why polar bears are going to be extinct … then I have to study for my Calculus exam … let's hope I can survive. D:

April 12, 2010


	10. Jealousy

Hi there, everyone! I once again apologize for this very late update! I had a full-time summer job, so I didn't have much time for writing, but now *thankfully* it's over and I have two more weeks before university starts-which means I'm going to be focusing on finishing this story. :)

Anyways, I would like to thank my beta-reader, Vampire Maddy, for looking over this chapter-believe me, if she didn't help me edit it, you would be reading a lot of weird and confusing stuff. Ha-ha. But seriously, I'm very grateful of her assistance. ;)

Oh yeah, heads-up, there will be four new (minor) characters in this chapter, but don't worry, they're harmless unless you think they are. ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Jealousy**

**.**

**.**

"Step, step, step. Now skip, turn, and step." Michiru's strict voice echoed through the music room. She clapped her hands to the rhythm of the waltz. "So far, so good. Keep it up, Yuuki-sama." She watched the youngest pureblood dance with her son.

For the last couple of hours, Yuuki had been struggling to learn the dance that she would have to perform at her soiree which was approaching in less than two weeks. Normally, she would be capable of dancing to what Michiru would call an 'acceptable' standard but today was not her day. She had unintentionally stepped on Hanabusa's foot several times.

She wasn't sure why she was not at ease, but she sensed the possibility that Hanabusa was intentionally avoiding direct eye contact with her. There had been a maladroit atmosphere between them ever since the incident that occurred in his bedroom.

They no longer talked like they used to or read and criticized books together. She felt that she has lost her dear childhood friend…

"Okay," Michiru suddenly interrupted when she saw Yuuki bump into Hanabusa again. "That's enough, darling." She didn't want to see any more physical damage caused to her poor son. She gestured her hand at her daughter to cease the music from the piano. "Let's call it a day, shall we? Thank you for your hard work children."

Michiru's daughter nodded her head and stood up to exit the room, knowing that her mother wanted to speak with Yuuki privately. Hanabusa had got the signal too and reluctantly let go of Yuuki's hand. He forced a small smile to form on his lips and kept his eyes averted.

Once the two young Aidous had left, Michiru approached Yuuki with a frown upon her face. Yuuki mentally braced herself for the long lectures that she expected Michiru to give her on how her dancing skills had deteriorated.

"Is there something bothering you, Yuuki-sama?" Michiru asked, lifting Yuuki's chin with the crook of her finger. "You are usually attentive when you dance."

"I don't know," Yuuki replied, before exhaling tiredly."Maybe I'm just too nervous… I'm afraid that I will disappoint you at the soiree."

"And, why is that?"

"Well, you have taught me so much and spent a tremendous time preparing me for it." Yuuki started, entwining her fingers as if she was praying. "I'm perturbed at the fact that, what if everything does not go smoothly on that night? What if I make a careless mistake? Such as forgetting my dance steps or saying something wrong? How will others react to it?" She bombarded the questions at her guardian. "I don't want to bring disgrace to my family or yours…" Her voice trailed off.

"Oh, my dear." Michiru said quietly, before extending her arms towards Yuuki for a quick encouraging hug. "Yuuki," she unconsciously dropped the honorific title, "Do not worry so much. I know you will make an elegant entry." Michiru withdrew her hands and grinned. "You're very sweet and sensible. A princess who is lovable in every way... I'm positive that everybody will absolutely adore you."

Yuuki smiled as she listened to every word that Michiru was saying. It was rare to hear such compliments and praises from her strict etiquette teacher. In these endearing moments, Michiru reminded Yuuki of her own mother. Juuri always managed to cheer Yuuki up whenever she was feeling sad or having low self-esteem.

"Thank you," Yuuki softly said, "For everything."

"No thank _you,_ for being an excellent student." Michiru replied humbly. "It has been an honor to be given the opportunity to serve you." She then took Yuuki's hands and patted them. "Oh, yes. Before I forget, I received a phone call earlier saying that Takuma will be coming in today."

Hearing her first friend's name, Yuuki's face immediately brightened up. "Really? Takuma is on his way?" she asked excitingly. It had been such a long time since she'd last seen him.

"Yes, and he will be staying with us until your soiree takes place."

"Good evening!" a cheerful voice greeted the two ladies.

Yuuki's head turned to the source of the voice and beamed at the young man standing at the grand archway of the room. She wanted to dash towards him and be given a big hug, but she knew better to do so when Michiru is present as she would get scolded for being too intimated with the opposite gender.

"Ah, speak of the devil." Michiru muttered.

Takuma walked into the room and lowered his head slightly to show some courtesy. "And how are you, madam?"

"Fine, thank you. And how was the journey? Long?" Michiru asked casually.

"Quite long, but it was expected. The weather was pleasant unlike the previous day when it has rained constantly," Takuma answered.

Michiru nodded her head and replied, "I see. Well, I'll leave you two alone to catch up on your lives. I shall talk to you later when we have tea time."

Yuuki watched Michiru deliberately exit the room and down the corridor. She did not move as she waited for Michiru to be out of their hearing range.

"Ah, so am I getting the cold shoulder, my princess?" Takuma jokingly asked, folding his arms across his chest. "No welcome hug? No warm smile? Whatever did I do to offend you to behave in such a manner?"

"For not visiting me often," she purposefully pouted.

"My apologies then. I should have visited you more, but I was held captive by my grandfather."

"Against your will?" she asked, skeptically raising an eyebrow at him.

"Half and half."

"Hmm…always the evil one's doing," she muttered and puffed her cheeks as she thought how Ichiou had kept her brother from seeing her.

Takuma was amused by Yuuki's nickname for his grandfather and grinned politely. He was even tempted to run over to her and embrace her when he saw how she puffed her cheeks in such a cute childish demeanor. She was simply adorable.

"So… do I get a hug?" he asked, sheepishly. He knew that hugging the princess would hold the risk of being interrogated by his omniscient best friend, but if she granted him the permission then he could use that as an excuse.

"Certainly." She kindly smiled and skipped over to his side.

He leant his torso forward and extended his arms as she approached him. Placing his arms around her back, he lifted her up off her feet for a playful hug. They both laughed as he had spun her around.

"Your hugs are always… so special," she commented when he had ended the hug. "Very fun."

"Why, thank you! I try to make them as interesting as possible," he replied modestly.

"Anyways, we must catch up on our lives!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I haven't seen you for ages and surely you must have tons of intriguing stories to tell me, no?" She eagerly glanced up at him. "I would like to hear more information about Cross Academy and the humans."

Takuma chuckled at her and responded: "Shouldn't you worry about your soiree more than Cross Academy? But, anyhow, didn't Kaname-sama update you with the progress on Cross Academy?"

"No… he is too busy," She lied, not wanting to admit she still refused to communicate with her brother. "He barely has any time for me."

"I see, I see." He noticed her expression changed when he mentioned her brother, but he did not dare to interfere with the pureblood's affairs. "Then, as your knight, I shall share my knowledge on that subject with you."

Yuuki giggled and reminisced back to the day when Takuma gave himself that title. Takuma had told her that since he could never be her prince charming, he would be her gallant knight. He would be loyal to her and carry out duties for her.

"Yes, I would be pleased if you did."

"We should head over to the library or garden to talk then." He took Yuuki's hand and tucked it in the crook of his arm. He then began to lead the way but a few minutes later he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his best friend waiting for him at the doorway.

"Oh, hello Kaname-sama," Takuma plastered a smile on his face to hide any shock. He had attempted to separate himself from Yuuki, but she had prevented it by clinging onto his arm. Obviously, she did not see what was wrong with them linking arms as they were only friends.

"Takuma," Kaname greeted while eyeing their arms _suspiciously_. He then turned to acknowledge his sister. "Yuuki."

"Onii-sama," her tone of voice lacked the usual warmness she had for him and she inclined her head.

"Where are you two off to?"

"To the library," she answered and tilted her head to one side, "Takuma will be telling me about the journeys he had been through."

"I see." Kaname did not know what else to say as the familiar silence fell upon them. He then suddenly remembered an event and decided to bring it up. "That reminds me, Madeleine and William Cavendish will arrive in a couple of days. Do you know who they are?"

"Yes, the Cavendish family is one of the remaining seven pureblood families. They are arriving from England." She gave the information that Michiru had kept emphasizing over the past month. "And I must show them my gratitude for coming as they rarely attend events such as my soiree." She then quickly darted her eyes to meet her brother's and asked: "May I go now?"

Seeing there was no point to continue the conversation, Kaname gave a half-smile and stood aside for them to pass through. He silently watched as Yuuki lightly pulled Takuma's arm to indicate that they should leave. In response, Takuma cordially smiled and bid a small goodbye at his best friend before leading his partner out of the room.

It would be a lie if Kaname didn't admit that he was privately jealous of how close Takuma and Yuuki had become. Even though he knew that nothing romantic was happening between the two, he couldn't help but have the fear that he could lose her to another male vampire.

The thought of having a strained relationship with his Yuuki had never crossed his mind until these last few nights. He was always confident that he would remain the most important person in her life and she would never ignore him… Had his long absence not made her heart grow fonder, but rather frigid?

He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair and let out a heavy sigh. He didn't know how or why, but her avoidance of him had somehow caused disturbance in his heart. Why should such a small matter bother him? After all, he was the powerful ancestor of the Kurans who was awakened from his deep slumber and placed into this current body. Whilst he was not sure why he was awakened or what was his mission in this second life, the one thing he was positive of was that he wasn't exactly Yuuki's true brother. He wasn't _just _Kaname.

So why should he have to play the role of Yuuki's brother? He wasn't obliged to.

Was it because of Juuri and Haruka? He pitied for them losing their only son? Or was it because of Yuuki?

Ah, that must be it. It must be her... it was always her since he couldn't stop thinking about her or all the things she said.

**.**

* * *

.

Closing the door to Kaname's bedroom, Yuuki breathed out heavily and smoothed the creases on her dress. She couldn't believe that she once again had given in to drinking his blood! She sometimes wondered if she had become addicted to his blood. Every time she drank it she found herself indulging in pure pleasure. Could it simply be that as she hasn't tasted blood for such a long time, she missed the sensation and wanted to savor every moment of it? Either way she had realized, no matter how hard she tries to ignore or avoid her beloved brother, her heart still yearns for him.

"What a strange feeling," she said to no one in particular. She then decided to forget about the new feeling and sauntered down the long hallway.

"Yuuki-sama!" a small childish voice called out.

She perked up at the sight of a dark blue haired little boy, waving his hand as he stood at the end of the hallway. The small bow on the boy's sailor outfit bounced as he ran eagerly towards her.

"Kiyoto!" she cried happily, kneeling down to hug Hanabusa's nephew. Kiyoto giggled as she embraced him and picked him up in the air.

"Oh, how is my favorite little boy doing?" she inquired, once he had stopped laughing.

"Je ne suis pas très bien," Kiyoto replied in French, puffing his cheeks. He was showing off his knowledge of foreign language which was typical for a boy who had Aidou's blood running through his veins.

"Pourquoi?" she questioned in French.

"Because of my sister," he crossed his arms across his chest.

"And what has she done?"

"Everybody is paying attention to her and not to me," he said, flapping his arms in a whiny way.

"And now you're feeling like you are being ignored?"

He only nodded his head in response.

"Well, Kiyoto, she is just a baby." Yuuki explained gently. "That is why she needs lots of attention and people to look after her. She is not at the stage where she can walk on her own or talk in foreign language—like you, my little monsieur."

Hearing a small praise from the pureblood, Kiyoto instantly beamed up at her.

"Don't worry, Kiyoto. I'm positive that your family is not neglecting you—and if they dare to—you still have me!" she cheered him up. "I'll give you all of my attention."

"Really?" he innocently asked.

"Really," she assured him. She then proceeded to resume walking down the hallway and started another conversation with Kiyoto.

They soon stopped talking when they heard a loud cry coming out of a guest room. Kiyoto slightly groaned and informed Yuuki that the source of the cry was none other than his sister, Kiyomi. It turned out that Kiyoto and Kiyomi have just arrived earlier in the afternoon. Their parents had some affairs to deal with, so they had asked Michiru to take care of them.

"We should take a look," Yuuki suggested, advancing into the guest room. She observed the scene as the maids were all huddled around a white crib and trying to calm down the baby. "Kiyoto, how about you wait for me in the parlor?" She turned her head to the boy in her arms. "You can set up the chess board and I'll go play with you after I see your sister, okay?"

Yuuki then placed Kiyoto on the ground and beckoned a butler who was passing by to assist him. Kiyoto excitedly agreed and obediently followed the butler to the parlor.

"Is there something bothering Kiyomi?" Yuuki projected her voice as she entered the room.

All three of the maids abruptly turned around and bowed to show respect for the pureblood.

"My apologies, is the baby's crying disturbing you, Yuuki-sama?" one of the maids asked, head drooping.

"We don't know what is wrong, but Kiyomi would not stop crying," another maid chirped in. "Maybe your pureblood presence could soothe her?" It was common knowledge that even noble babies rarely cried in front of purebloods.

Yuuki slowly approached the crib and looked down at the frustrated Kiyomi. Then, for some peculiar reason, her hands reached for Kiyomi and picked her up. She cradled the cranky baby in her arms.

"There, there, Kiyomi. Don't cry, everything will be alright," Yuuki whispered to the baby.

At first, the baby didn't pay much attention to Yuuki until she looked into her alluring eyes. Magically, the wailing ceased and Kiyomi stared up at Yuuki as if she was mesmerized.

Meanwhile, Kaname was on his way to meet with some guests, but he stopped when he saw Yuuki cooing at the baby. A smile tugged on his lips as he watched the scenery of Yuuki playing with the baby.

The maids soon noticed Kaname and got the signal that they should give the couple some alone time with the baby. Perhaps the purebloods could bond with the help of a baby.

"Oh, Kiyomi, you will grow up into a gorgeous lady for sure. True to your name… pure beauty." Yuuki paced around the room and teased, "And many fine gentlemen will want your hand in marriage."

"Indeed, she will, but let's not forget that she will also be intelligent as her mother is an Aidou." Kaname added serenely.

Yuuki was not startled by Kaname's presence as he was always around her wherever she goes—or at least, that was what had happened for the last couple of days. She only casted a quick sideway glance at him before caressing Kiyomi's cheeks. "Beautiful and intelligent. That is a good combination."

"But, of course, she won't be as beautiful as you." Kaname said as he came up next to her.

Yuuki felt her cheeks warm as those words left his mouth. It has been a while since she had last heard something so flattering from him. "Would you like to hold her?" she switched the topic of their conversation.

Kaname held out his arms as Yuuki transferred the delicate baby from her hands to his. He had a funny warm feeling when Kiyomi looked up curiously at him. He then realized that it had been years since he last held a baby in his hands. The baby felt very light and fragile to him and it made him want to protect her.

The aura of awkwardness soon went away when the baby gurgled and gave a toothy smile at him. The baby then clapped her hands and made a cooing sound

"Isn't she lovely?" Yuuki patted her hand on Kiyomi's tummy.

He agreed by nodding his head as he saw how Kiyomi took hold of Yuuki's index finger with her small chubby hands and shook it a bit.

Yuuki let out an inward sigh and said, "I can't believe one day I'll become a mother…" Realizing that she had spoken her embarrassing thoughts aloud, she bit down hard on her lower lip.

"Yes, eventually we will become parents and have our own… little ones." His voice trailed off as he thought of their future together.

This time, her cheeks had turned a shade of light pink. She lowered her head as she did not want him to see her blush.

"How many children should we have?" he asked, out of the blue.

"What?" she asked, caught off guard. She couldn't believe what he had just asked her.

Seeing there was nothing wrong, he had repeated the question and added: "But no matter what, we need a boy and a girl."

"Why is that?"

"To continue the Kuran bloodline," he simply stated.

She crooked her head to one side and put her hands on her hips. She didn't like where this was going as he made it sound like the purpose of having children is to continue the bloodline rather than out of love. Kaname did not notice her change in expression as his attention was on the baby.

"Oh," she replied dryly.

"Since we are the only Kurans left,"

"Yes," she answered absentmindedly, forgetting that her atrocious uncle was still alive.

"And this is what our parents want,"

"Yes,"

"So, we have to fulfill our duties as purebloods."

Duties.

Yuuki couldn't help but wince at hearing that word. She was beginning to feel annoyed every time she was reminded of her duty. Ever since she had moved in with the Aidous, she had been regularly reminded that she had to carry out her duty as a pureblood. She knew what she had to do, but couldn't that wait? Were the nobles so scared that the only two Kurans in the world would die before they have an heir? _After all, they did have eternity._

"I suppose so," she said bitterly, turning her heel. "Please excuse me, onii-sama. I'll be going now." She bowed her head to show respect for him. She then swiftly walked towards the exit of the room, leaving a slightly confused Kaname behind.

Kaname did not know exactly why there was a sudden change of behavior in Yuuki, but he suspected that he must have said something unpleasant to her. Never did he believe that he would say something offensive or displeasing to another person as he usually always so tactful when communicating with other people.

Sighing, he turned his head towards the baby and asked: "Did I say something wrong?"

**.**

* * *

**.**

"Yuuki, I would like you to meet Madeleine and William Cavendish." Kaname introduced, gesturing his left hand at the two siblings before them.

Yuuki couldn't help but be nervous when she felt the Cavendish siblings' gaze on her. It was her first time interacting with other purebloods. She didn't like to be observed but told herself that she should get used to it as tons of people would look up to her once she had made her entrance into the society.

While trying to keep a calm composure, she quickly inspected the two siblings. The only physical characteristic that they both shared was their amethyst-colored eyes. Aside from that, William had blond hair whilst Madeleine had dark brown hair.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Yuuki said, whilst sinking into a curtsy. "I'm so happy to finally be granted the privilege of having you come and stay here."

"No trouble at all. We are delighted."

The reply came from William and it astonished Yuuki that he replied so casually. He gave her a dashing smile that caused her to blush, so she lowered her head slightly. He then stepped forward towards her and held out his hand. Yuuki timidly glanced up at him in confusion. She did not know what he wanted. Did he want to shake her hand?

Foreseeing an uncomfortable situation if she does not response, Yuuki hesitantly held out her hand. Her eyes widened when he took her hand and pecked it. Naturally, she wanted to jerk away from him, but she stayed still as she remembered that was how the Europeans greeted one another.

"We should be the ones to feel honored as you have invited us. It's not every day that we purebloods have celebrations, especially for a pureblood who will be entering into our society," William said.

"We are also happy that there is another member of the Kuran family, particularly a young and charming lady," Madeleine joined the conversation.

"Yes, Kaname, how long were you intending to hide this precious treasure of yours from us? From the world?" William joked and caused everybody to laugh. "Now, may I steal her for a stroll in the garden?"

**.**

**.  
**

"Unbelievable! You're telling me that you never heard of the famous musical _The Phantom of the Opera_? Why, it's a marvelous and classic musical. You ought to see it someday," William incredulously said. "They show this play at Her Majesty's Theatre!"

"I hope so too. Maybe onii-sama can take me someday." Yuuki said amicably

"So, how do you feel about him?" he curiously inquired.

"Feel about… who?" she asked, wanting him to be more specific.

"Your brother."

"Umm…" she paused for a while. "He's a caring and great person."

"Well, do you love him?"

"Huh?" Yuuki was frozen in her tracks by his query. She looked up at him and saw he had arched his eyebrow at her. She soon realized that her response at first was not proper and corrected herself. "I mean, pardon?"

William was amused at her reaction and repeated the question. He then added, "He is your fiancé; you will marry him someday."

"Ah, yes, that's true, but I'm afraid that he doesn't feel the same way as I do to him." Yuuki admitted, surprising herself that she half confessed her feelings for Kaname to a complete stranger whom she had met just a few hours ago, but it felt good to let it out.

"Oh?"

"Well, what I meant to say is that he only sees me as a sister and nothing more," she clarified.

"Hmm, intriguing. Is that what you perceive?" he asked, putting his hand under his chin. "Because I think he sees you more than that."

"How so?" she challenged him.

"The way that he gazes at you tells me so, and when I kissed your hand I noticed that he was staring at me the whole time as if he was very displeased and… possessive."

"Are you saying that onii-sama was jealous? Impossible," she said in disbelief.

"My lady, I assure you that he was. However, if you still have doubt, then I can help you," he said sincerely.

"Help me?" she was puzzled.

"I can prove that he thinks of you more than a sister." He turned his head towards the manor. "But of course, getting him jealous would mean that I'd have to act like I'm pursuing you."

"Oh, I see… well." She tried to think of a polite way of refusing the offer. Although it would be nice to see if Kaname was the jealous type, it might cause problems. "What about Madeleine?" she was relieved that she had found an excuse. "Aren't you _with_ her?" She hoped that he would get the message.

This time, it was William who was hesitating for a response and caused Yuuki to wonder why.

"It's complicated between us," he finally answered. "We are in a similar situation like you two are—except, I'm the one who is in doubt that she loves me." He gazed longingly at the tree besides them.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"That's why I want to help. Unlike my situation, I see that there's hope between you two. But, anyway, if you don't want me to help, I completely understand." He gave a reassuring smile to show he wouldn't be offended if she declined.

Listing the pros and cons of this plan in her mind, Yuuki pondered on whether to give it a try. She couldn't think of any harm of the plan as it might benefit both William and her. The worst scenario that she could come up with was that Kaname would find out and she would be extremely embarrassed and there could be another possibly horrible scenario in which—

Yuuki's thoughts dissolved when she peered into his eyes and found that he was truly sincere about this matter. Her instincts were telling her that she should give the plan a try and maybe, just maybe, she would be able to help this guy by proving that Madeleine cares about him.

"Alright," Yuuki smiled and clasped her hands together. "I accept your offer."

"Splendid!" he exclaimed, pulling a lilac rose out of nowhere and placed it in her hair. "Shall we go back, my lady?" He held out his hand and whispered, "He's _spying _on us now, up in that window."

**.**

* * *

**.**

"I can take it from here," Yuuki said, taking the small bouquet of white roses away from her maid. "Thank you; please return back to your work."

Yuuki brought the roses close to her and took in the emanating sweet scent. She then hummed as she reached for an empty vase that was sitting on her table.

Unknowingly to her, someone was leaning against the frame of her doorway and watching her arrange the roses.

"There we go, all pretty," Yuuki said, placing both of her hands on her hips. She was about to leave the room but halted when she saw her brother staring at her.

"Onii-sama... is there something I can help you with?" she asked, trying to keep her voice tranquil.

"I was just passing by," he said as he approached her. "I see you're getting well with William."

"Yes, he's such a gentleman; very noble and refined," she told him honestly. She then grabbed a white rose from the vase and smiled. "It's hard not to like him." She twirled the rose with the tip of her thumb and index fingers. "What do you think of him?"

"He's a fine young man," he said, carefully choosing his words. Secretly in his mind, he was trying to find some flaws in William that he could indirectly mention to her, but he disposed of these thoughts as it would accuse him of being intolerant when she is with another man (which was true!). So, instead, he chose to remind her that William was taken. "Isn't Madeleine lucky then?"

"Yes, she is. I—ouch." She immediately looked down at her index finger. The rose had prickled her skin with its thorns and a tiny trace of blood oozed down unto the rose. "How clumsy…" she muttered to herself and brought her finger to her lips.

She was about to part her lips when he took her finger and licked the blood off.

The taste of her blood was so intoxicating that it caused his eyes to color a bright scarlet. His lust was overcoming him and he wanted to drink more. He was about to pin her against the wall and have a small drink from her neck, but looking into Yuuki's eyes, he saw the familiar fear and resisted the urge.

Kaname then straightened himself and gave his usual excuse for leaving, "I'm late for a meeting." With that, he left the room, leaving a flustered Yuuki standing there alone.

**.**

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**

**Authoress' note: **Well, that's the chapter! I hope you readers enjoyed it. Personally, I think it was kind of long and draggy-in terms of plot-wise, nothing major happened _yet_-so I'm going to start speeding things up in the next couple of chapters. As for the next update, it should be very soon-I can guarantee that it won't be next month, maybe next week-as I already got half of the next chapter done.

Comments and criticism are welcomed! It would be superb if I can get some feedback on how am I doing in this story because I'm getting a little worried that the main characters are going to be OOC very soon (if they haven't already)?

And last but not least, here's a treat to all you readers:

**- Sneak Preview of Next Chapter -**

**.  
**

"No, I don't like William in that kind of way; I'm actually in love with someone else," she answered.

There was an absence of sound and speech as those words left her mouth.

"Who?" It took him a tremendous amount of effort to say that word. "Does he treat you well?" The images of a smiling Takuma and an embarrassed Hanabusa appeared in his head. "Does he love you?"

"He treats me well, he has always been kind to me…but I don't know if he loves me. I never know what goes through his head," she sighed, nervously playing with her hair.

"Oh… Do I know him then?"

"Yes. In fact, he's very close to you."

"I see."

"He's about your height too and around your age."

"Oh?" he tried to feign interested.

"But I think I'm such a fool to love him."

"And why is that?"

"Because, I'm helplessly in love with my brother."


	11. Loves Me Not

Hi everyone^^! It has been, once again, such a long time since I last updated. I apologize again for the delay of this chapter! University has been such a pain as usual, so I haven't gotten much time to write … but luckily, I managed to produce this super long chapter—the longest I've ever written! Originally, I was planning to split this chapter into two chapters, but then I thought, since you readers have been waiting so long (which I appreciate it a lot!), I'll just merge it into one chapter. I hope you readers will like it as much as I'd fun writing it…even though there's a corny scene or two (I don't think I can ever write good romantic scenes *sighs*).

Also, I would like to make two shout-out(s). First one is to the wonderful VampireMaddy for giving me helpful pointers even though she couldn't help me beta this chapter. I just want to say thank you so much for your hard work on my previous chapters! I've enjoyed reading your little notes and I'm going to miss them so much~! Second shout-out is thank you to kawaii hime-sama for beta-ing this chapter (you're very awesome^^!).

Oh yeah, if you happen to spot an error or two or more, feel free to tell me as you have probably noticed this-but I always manage to make some sort of error despite how many times I re-read or have lovely beta-readers to look over them (I somehow mess it up). I really don't know why...

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight... If I did, then why am I typing this?

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**Chapter 11: Loves Me Not**

**.**

**.**

Spending time with the Cavendish siblings was the only time that Yuuki could unwind herself from the stress and pressure that everybody else was giving her. Almost everyday when the sun settled on the horizon, Michiru and the maids would come greet the sleeping Yuuki. They would tell her how many days were left until her soiree and gently yanked the sleepy Yuuki out of bed. They then would go through the daily routine of dancing, playing various instruments, having tea time with Michiru to work on her social skills, and reviewing the names along with general background information of famous people that would attend at the soiree. So roughly estimating and accumulating those tiny breaks in between, Yuuki would only get an hour or two for herself—and see another person other than Michiru.

_I can't wait until this is all over_, Yuuki thought. She was currently standing on the balcony and observing the scenery beneath her, the water fountain spilling glistening cool water onto its stones and the wind blew blandly over the grass. The serenity of the scene was supposed to help her relax and perhaps meditate, but all she felt were uneasiness with the soiree, and uncertainty with her fiancé.

"How was your day, Yuuki?" Madeleine asked, inhaling the fresh air as she stepped next to the youngest Kuran.

"It was...okay," Yuuki managed to say and tried to smile as her mind wandered to the distasteful flashbacks of what happened few hours ago. To be frank, she had quite a bad day as she accidentally broke the violin's strings, spilled tea on Michiru's antique dress, messed up in remembering the names of important people, and fell on atop of Hanabusa when they were dancing. Some _okay _day that was. "And quite boring too with the preparations... So what about you? How are you doing?"

"The same as usual, I read a couple of books and worked on some projects," Madeleine said, "by the way, have you seen my brother? For some odd reason he's been missing in action for the past couple of days. I rarely see him anymore."

"Not yet," Yuuki responded expeditiously and scolded herself mentally for doing so. The answer she gave was indirectly hinting that she saw him every day, but she did not want to cause a misunderstanding that William was ignoring Madeleine—wait, did that mean she cares about him?

"I see," Madeleine attempted to not sound interested, "I just hope he isn't getting into trouble or bothering other people. He's quite notorious of meddling into others' affairs... Anyways, would you care to walk with me around the garden? Show me around?" She then smiled as if nothing was wrong and gestured her hand to the many paths in the exquisite garden.

"Sure!" Yuuki answered happily and was glad they were changing subjects in their chat, "there's this section where it has all these types of roses, and the sight is very breathtaking. Come, I'll show you."

The two maidens' short journey in the garden soon got interrupted when a smiling William approached them.

"Yuuki, I have been looking for you!" William exclaimed.

"Oh?" Yuuki was a bit surprised to see him as Madeleine and she were just talking about him. "How can I assist you, Will-san?"

"I would like to show you something," he said, not paying any attention to his own sister. "By the way, it's chilly and damp out here." He eyed between the two ladies before him and observed their outfits. "Yuuki, your dress is sleeveless and quite thin. Since Madeleine has her coat on... here, you should take mine." He took off his coat and placed it over Yuuki's shoulders.

"Thank you," Yuuki said softly. Even though she knew that this was all a pretense act, she felt her cheeks warming up in embarrassment and wondered if this had to do anything with Madeleine's gaze on them.

**.**

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**.**

**Art Room**

"You know, she was staring at you the whole time," Yuuki commented, taking a paintbrush from the table.

"Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything," William said, as he handed a wooden palette to her.

Yuuki displayed a frown on her face.

"Anyways, we're going to paint!" William had a cheerful expression on.

"Paint, why?" she asked curiously. "Is this for someone? Someone special? Perhaps, your sister's birthday?" She smiled as she was able to get Madeleine back into their conversation. She was about to nudge William's shoulder but changed her mind as she saw him shrug.

"Nope, we are going to paint for fun." He turned towards his blank portrait and was figuring out how he wanted to angle his brush.

"For fun?" she asked innocently, quirking an eyebrow at him. "So there won't be any object displayed for us to paint?"

"Free-style painting; you can paint anything that comes into your mind. This exercise will help you relax a bit as I've noticed you've had a foul day," he explained.

"How did you know?"

"I have my ways." He grinned. "So let's start painting. First, empty your mind of all troubled thoughts and take a deep breath. Then, paint whatever comes to your mind or think of something nice and paint that instead."

Yuuki listened to his instructions and started painting random things on her canvas. At first, it was kind of hard to think of something to paint, but then as each time she created a new stroke with her paintbrush; she loosened up her mind and let her imagination run free which made it a lot easier.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it," she said excitedly. Eager to show William her masterpiece, she hastily turned around to face him and she accidentally hit him with her palette and made a mess. Apparently, William was behind her the whole time and she didn't know as she was too absorbed into painting.

"I'm so sorry!" she said immediately, eyes widening.

"It's okay," he was about to say that it was not her fault, but she interrupted him with her speech of "no-it-isn't". She went on and on about how she should have been more careful. Then, in the process of explaining, she accidentally swiped her paintbrush across his face.

She almost shrieked at the huge purple stripe she painted across his face. She stared at him and he stared back. She expected that he would be upset with her, but instead, he suddenly laughed and somehow she started to laugh too.

"My lady, I don't think it's fair that I'm the only one being painted on in this room," he said rationally. As much as he wanted to seek revenge and splatter some paint on her, it would not be a very chivalrous thing to do.

"True, but its very fun." Yuuki gathered all of her confidence and bravely dabbed her brush on his nose. After it was done, she couldn't believe what she had did and wondered when was the last time she had this much fun.

"Oh, my lady, you've made a terrible, very terrible mistake in doing that," he used a serious tone in his voice, "however, since you did it on purpose this time, I assume it's an invitation that you want to play paint war. So let it commence!" He reached for his brush and Yuuki began to run away from him.

At the end of the day, paint had gotten over most of their clothes and faces. When the servants came into the room to clean up, they were shocked to see the two purebloods in such a state.

"Yuuki, we are needed for a portrait. Angelo just arrived and we are expected to-" Kaname got speechless when he came into the room. He took in the appearance of Yuuki and William, wondering what had happened.

"We had a painting accident," William said and cleared his throat, "and don't worry, no one got hurt." He grinned, hoping that would ease the awkwardness in their surrounding.

Kaname only nodded his head and fixed his gaze at Yuuki, who was averting her eyes, waiting for her explanation.

"Also, it wasn't her fault either, I can be clumsy sometimes and I was the one who pushed her into this," William continued his explanation.

Yuuki then decided it was her turn to join the conversation and explain what really happened. "No, that isn't true, Oniisama, I was the one who accidentally started this, so I'm the one to take the blame."

"Well." Kaname didn't know how to respond to this as he was surprised that Yuuki was worried who was going to get blame. "Okay, now that's cleared up, Yuuki, please go clean up yourself and meet me at the blue drawing room in one hour."

**.**

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**.**

Yuuki and Kaname smiled at the brown-headed artist as he diligently worked on a portrait of them. Patiently waiting while sitting down on the sofa, Yuuki still didn't understand why they needed a portrait as the concept of 'capture-the-moment' did not apply to them; they would never age. Apparently, Michiru had said they should try it out as it would be a memorable experience and they could hang the portrait back at their home.

Since the young couple couldn't quite move or talk to each other physically, they had been communicating through telepathy for the past few minutes.

[*Note: In this section only, bold text is Kaname's thoughts while italicized text is Yuuki's thoughts]

**How was your day?**

_Nothing special happened … just getting ready for the soiree._

**What about the painting incident? Would you like to tell me more about it? **

_Oh...um...Yes, about that, well, like I have said previously, I was the one who inadvertently got paint on William's face and then we kind of started a paint war..._

Expecting him to reprimand her for behaving in such a childish manner, she mentally braced herself and tightened her grip on her dress to ease her anticipation.

**I see...**

Was he not going to scold her?

**Well... I would like to advise you that please don't let it happen again, because this could cause a misunderstanding. **

_How so?_

**My dear girl, don't take this the wrong way, but there are already rumors circulating in this building about that incident and it's not good for your reputation. I'm not saying this is a scandal because that's practically disgrace—**

_Scandal? _

Yuuki shot up from her seat and narrowed her eyebrows at her brother, who was still calmly sitting down. She knew that she would instantly regret what she was about to say to him, but her small bottle of emotion inside her was beginning to violently overflow. Usually, she was able to control her temper, but not today, she was clearly overstressed and felt drained out of energy as the soiree was the night after tomorrow.

_What do you mean, Oniisama? So is it not right for me to be with my friend, alone in a room, painting? Because the servants will think that something else more interesting is happening? Well, let me clarify, nothing extraordinary happened in that room and William was only helping me to relax through painting. He had noticed that I've been really stressed and nervous for the past couple of days to the point that it's affecting my rehearsals. He cared for me and showed his support during those darkest hours for me. So I don't care what others say about us, but I'm not going to stop being friends with him. He's a dear person to me. I'm not going to be ashamed of being seen with him, despite what others say, because I know the truth of what is actually happening and so do you. _

She then turned her head to Angelo and said, "I'm very sorry, but you have to excuse me as I'm not feeling very well at the moment."

**.**

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**.**

**The Next Night, Yuuki's Room**

"She should definitely go with the red-wine-colored dress." Ruka shoved the said-dress to Yuuki and patted her own chest. "Trust me, Yuuki-sama. It brings out the color of your eyes! Also, not to mention that red is the color of blood, which symbolize life and vitality. Without blood, we will perish and this emphasizes how essential Yuuki-sama is in our lives." She then whispered into Yuuki's left ear, "Besides, this dress is way better than that white dress Michiru-san wants to get you into."

"I heard that, Ruka." Michiru impatiently drummed her fingers on the desk in front of her. There was no way that she was going to give up on persuading Yuuki to wear the white dress for tomorrow's night.

"I still think she should wear a black dress to her soiree," Touya Rima said with an apathetic expression. She then munched on her chocolate-coated pocky as if everything was fine and that everybody in the room was not looking at her.

"Anyways," Michiru was prepared to win in the debate, "I think Yuuki should wear the white dress because the color white symbolizes purity, virtue, and innocence. Also, this dress offers more coverage than that." She pointed at the red spaghetti strapless dress and then at the elegant white laced dress. "We shouldn't expose her skin too much ... besides even Queen Elizabeth I wore a pristine white majestic gown in the Ditchley portrait."

Ruka raised an eyebrow at the random fact that Michiru just threw at her and said, "Well, if we are going to use historical facts in this debate, then did you know that in China, red is the color of prosperity and joy? When the Chinese marry, the brides always wear red and everything in the house gets decorated in red."

"And in the Western cultures, the brides wear white," Michiru argued, not bothering to accentuate that Yuuki wasn't getting marrying _yet_.

"Hmm..." Ruka said and placed her hands on her hips. "Alright, I think it's time for Yuuki-sama to choose now." She smiled and turned to Yuuki.

"Sure, but clearly she's going to choose my dress as I always knew which dress suits her best. In addition, I was the one who picked all those dresses in her wardrobe," Michiru said confidently, pride sparkling in her eyes.

"Well, Yuuki, which one are you going to choose?" they both asked the tormented princess.

Hesitating, Yuuki moderately observed the dresses and didn't know which one to choose. The red dress with a black bow around the waist area looked simple yet classy while the white dress looked (too) lacy yet beautiful. Both lengths of the dresses were around the same and Michiru had a point that the white dress offered more coverage as it had this bell-styled sleeve with pink ribbons tied to them that would cover most of her arms.

"Um...both dresses are equally lovely and ethereal. Can't I wear both of them?" Yuuki suggested sheepishly.

"I believe that's not an option, you can only wear one dress unless you get your dress dirty," Michiru paused and waved a dismissing hand, "and please disregard that thought. Your dress should remain spotless at all times."

"Can I have some more time to decide?" Yuuki compensated.

"We are running a tight schedule, the soiree is tomorrow." Michiru glanced at her watch. "So it's best if you can make a decision right here, right now. But, since you've been good today with your rehearsals, you can give us an answer tomorrow when we help you dress, so you can be indecisive until then."

Yuuki only nodded, grateful that she was spared to make a decision that would eventually hurt one of them.

"And now, we have to work on your hair," Ruka placed a hand on her chin. "Should we tie up her hair into a bun to give her a sophisticated look? Or leave it down for a natural and wavy look?"

"I think she should leave it down, it gives her more of an innocent and sweet look—like the one she has now," Michiru spoke out her opinion, pointing at the clueless Yuuki.

"Nah, I think she should tie it up because she will look more mature—which is important if we want people to take her seriously and not as a child."

Yuuki began to zone out as Ruka and Michiru got into another debate of how they should style her hair. Her mind was occupied as she thought back to the outburst she had with Kaname earlier. She was finding herself submerged in guilt as each time she replayed the scene over and over again in her mind.

Her conscience was telling her that she shouldn't have vented out her stress on Kaname. He was only trying to warn her that she shouldn't be too attached to William. For all she knew, William could not be the person he portrayed himself as. How could she not trust Kaname and his better judgment? She inwardly sighed as she realized she had made a mistake and should apologize to him.

**.**

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**.**

**Around Five o'clock in the Morning**

Frustrated at not being able to meet Kaname, Yuuki shifted restlessly on her bed and told herself that she would have to find him first thing tomorrow night. Nothing was going to stop her, or well, maybe Michiru and Ruka, as they would probably be the first people she would see when the next time she opened her eyes—that was if she could fall asleep.

Shutting her eyes tightly, Yuuki started counting sheep like she did when she was a child. White and fluffy, she imagined. With the sheep's image created in her mind, she then visualized them jumping over a small brown fence in a pasture of green field with a sunny background and the birds chirping happily. _Wait_, she shouldn't think of birds or the sun, she should make the scenery more sleep-appropriate. She focused harder and changed the setting of the illusion in her mind.

After many failed attempts of counting the sheep, Yuuki decided to walk around in the manor against staying in bed and doing nothing. She thought the walk could help to loosen her perturbation, so she slipped out of her bed and into her dressing robe.

Sneaking out of her bedroom was easy for Yuuki, but being careful not to be caught by Michiru or her minions—the servants that worked for her and her children—would be challenging as they could be secretly patrolling the manor and making sure that Yuuki doesn't run away.

_Paranoid much_, Yuuki thought to herself and shook her head. She then proceeded to meander down the corridor and noticed that it was probably pretty early in the morning as the curtains couldn't hide the bright sunbeams that were coming from outside. This caused Yuuki to wonder when she would ever be adjusted to seeing sunlight.

Out of nowhere, Yuuki heard a faint, dark melody from a piano. Yuuki felt a slight shiver down her spine as she continued to listen to this haunting tune. Who could be playing piano at this hour?

_So-Do-Mi. So-Do-Mi. So-Do-Mi_

Those were the triplet notes that the pianist was playing with his or her right hand followed by some chords. The melody had given her a melancholic yet soothing feeling and she felt lured to it as she was curious to see who the pianist was.

Her feet stopped at the music room. She was relieved that the door was opened or else she would have knocked and interrupted the pianist. Poking her head into the room to get a better view of the shadowy figure behind the piano, Yuuki gripped her hands on the door for support.

She almost fell to the ground when she finally got a glimpse of the talented pianist—the person whom she was looking for the entire day, it was none other than her brother. At that moment, she knew she only had two options: one, go back to her own room before he sees her or two, go inside and apologize so she could finally sleep in the remaining hours before her big event starts.

No more procrastination, she deliberated that she had to be mature and face her problems instead of avoiding them. Aside from the apology, she wanted to mend their strained relationship. She had missed their old times together and speculated what had gone wrong. To be honest, she was very tired of being angry at him.

Taking a deep breath, Yuuki quietly emerged into the room and sat down next to him on the piano bench when he ended the song.

"Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, eh?" she said timidly.

"Yes, you recognized it?" he asked smilingly.

She nodded her head before replying, "I only heard of it, Hanabusa was supposed to teach me, but he never got the time."

"I can teach you the first movement of this piece right now, it's pretty easy." He then instructed: "Here, place your hands on the piano."

Within a few minutes, Yuuki had succeeded in learning the first couple of notes and Kaname asked her if she knew the meaning of the song.

"Not really, do I get a hint?"

"It's a little similar to Für Elise."

She pouted as she thought back to what Hanabusa told her and said, "According to the rumors, Beethoven wrote Für Elise to a lady who turned down his proposal. So are you implying that he wrote Moonlight Sonata for his lover and got rejected... again?"

"Not exactly," he answered and grinned, "this time, rumor has it that the lady accepted his proposal, but her parents forbade the marriage."

"Oh... that's a shame," she commented, "if all those rumors are true, then I feel quite sorry for Beethoven."

_Sorry._

Yuuki almost gasped as that word reminded her that she was supposed to be apologizing to Kaname instead of learning piano lessons from him.

"Oniisama?" her voice was as soft as a mouse.

"Hmm?" He began to play some notes on the piano.

"I'm ... sorry."

The notes soon came into a halt as he gave her a sideway glance. "For...?"

"For earlier, I shouldn't have said those words to you," she said sadly, "I'm sorry that I made such an outburst. I—"

"It's okay, I understand." His gaze went back to the piano's keyboard. "And I was at fault too."

"No, you weren't."

"Yes, I was, Yuuki. I should have paid more attention to you. You were unhappy and weary." He turned to face her and tucked a falling strand of her hair behind her ear. "Yet I didn't do anything, so you should be angry at me. You have every reason to do so."

She shook her head and was astonished by his words. She couldn't believe that he was telling her that it was okay to be angry at him. She then said, "That's not the real reason why I was angry." She shifted in her seat. "I was still angry at the fact that you didn't contact me in those three years," she said softly, "I knew you had a reason to be away and I shouldn't be angry, but I don't know, I just can't help but feel this way." She shyly fidgeted with her fingers and looked down at her lap.

"Did you really think that you were really alone all this time?"

She haltingly lifted her gaze to meet his eye level and narrowed her eyebrows. Her confuse expression told him that he had to elaborate.

He only smiled at her and continued, "Did you not notice anything odd about the animals you saw when you were upset? The black cat and the raven?"

Flashbacks of those memories gradually faded into her mind and she remembered those animals. The black cat that constantly cuddled against her and accompanied her when she felt lonely in her bedroom. At each visit the cat gave her, she was mused on where did it come from and why was it being so friendly with her instead of being arrogant like most cats do. What got her suspicious the most was the red-colored eyes that it had, but she didn't give much of a thought as she didn't see cats often. As for the raven, it appeared without fail, whenever she felt very down at the garden. The raven would perch on a nearby tree and listen attentively to her rants about how horrible her day went.

"So... it was you, the whole time?" she asked, processing the new information she received in her mind. Heat flustered to her cheeks as she remembered she'd told some secrets to the animals such as drinking Hanabusa's blood and her feelings towards her brother.

"Yes, I was watching over you and making sure you were safe."

"But how come you didn't appear in person?"

"Because I wanted you to learn how to be independent and take care of yourself."

"And how did I do? Barely passing?" she joked lightly.

"Well, truthfully speaking, I was extremely worried when you stopped taking your daily dose of blood. You were really vulnerable and other people could have taken advantage of you." He caressed her face tenderly with his hand.

"I'm sorry, it won't ever happen again, I promise." She closed her eyes and covered his hand with hers.

He pulled her into his arms and rested his head on her head. She welcomed the warmness of his skin as their bodies collided. She sighed in relief as she was glad that they could be together again. The moment was ruined when she stifled a yawn and he reluctantly released her.

"Looks like someone's sleepy, you better go to bed or else you won't have enough energy for tomorrow." He pressed his lips on her forehead when he saw she was going to protest. "Now off you go, straight to bed. We can talk more tomorrow."

"Alright," she gave in and smiled as she had one request: "But only on one condition; you carry me."

**.**

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**.**

**Few Hours Later . . .**

"Rise and shine, Yuuki-sama." Michiru cheerfully greeted the sleepy Yuuki as the doors of her room flung open. "It's your big day, so we need all the time we can get."

The only respond Yuuki gave was pulling her blanket over her head and turning her back towards Michiru. "Five more minutes please," she mumbled under her blanket.

"Sorry, not today, Yuuki-sama, we really have a tight schedule." Michiru walked over to Yuuki's bed. "Now, don't make me get Kaname-sama to wake you up."

"I'm awake!" her voice was suddenly filled with enthusiasm. "There's no need to bother him." She didn't want her brother to see her in such a state as she promised him that she would be more responsible in handling her affairs.

The preparations did not take long as Michiru thought it would with Yuuki co-operating. Michiru had noticed that Yuuki was in a rather happy mood today and ruminated what had caused her to be in such a mood, but now wasn't the time to discuss that matter as she needed to help her finish getting her hair done.

In the end, Yuuki had chosen the red dress because she remembered that Kaname once told her that she looked beautiful in red. As for the hair, Yuuki managed to appease Ruka and Michiru by combining both suggested options. She had let her hair down and let Ruka curl her hair a little with the ironer.

"All set and we have some extra time," Michiru said contently.

"You look gorgeous," Ruka said in awe. "And those curls look perfect." She folded her arms and admired her work.

"Thank you everybody for your hard work." Yuuki stood up and smiled at her friends. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to have some alone time." She then raised a hand at the suspicious Michiru. "Don't worry; I'm not planning to run away or anything like that. I just would like some alone time to calm the butterflies in my stomach."

"Alright, we will see you downstairs soon." Michiru placed a hand on Yuuki's shoulder. "I wish you best of luck."

After everybody exited the room, Yuuki walked over to the mirror and stared at her own reflection. The person in the mirror looked very elegant and noble. Like Ruka had said, the red dress bought out her eyes' color and matched her ivory skin. She was pleased to see that her hair was no longer straight and dull because she never liked it. Ever since she was little, Yuuki had envied her mother's long and natural curls, so it was nice for a change that she had a different hairstyle, even just for one day

"Are you ready?"

Yuuki swiftly turned her head to greet the person at the door. Her heart skipped two beats when she saw it was Kaname. He was dressed in a black tuxedo that fitted him perfectly at every angle.

"Wow, you look amazing," Kaname complimented.

"So are you saying that I don't look amazing on other days?" she asked, humor in her voice.

The response amused Kaname a little as he never thought she would say something so playful and teasing.

"I'm kidding, Oniisama. Thank you for the comment, you look very handsome too." This time she blushed.

The two of them managed to have a small discussion before Kaname was needed downstairs. He reminded her that he would be with her all the time during the soiree.

"I'll see you downstairs." Kaname grudgingly let go of her and went on his way. As he walked out of the room, he took in notice that William was heading towards him. He could sense the radiating cheery aura around William and knew instantly that he was looking for Yuuki rather than him.

They exchanged a quick greeting as they past each other.

"Yuuki, I have something urgent to tell you—wow, you look dazzling!"

Kaname stopped amid in the hallway when he had heard William's exclamation and decided to linger to see what William was up to. Even though he had known William for quite some years, Kaname still didn't trust him completely as it was not surprising that a pureblood could be deceitful.

"Thanks. Do I really look that bad normally?"

"Well ... kind of, as the dresses that you wear everyday are so plain and boring—joking, really. You look ravishing everyday, but today, you look extraordinarily stunning."

Kaname had almost cringed when he heard those sugary-coated words.

"Anyways, I'm here with a present, it's a necklace and I hope you will wear it tonight-"

"Ah, there you are, Kaname-sama, we need to go downstairs to get ready." Takuma had interrupted Kaname's eavesdropping on Yuuki and William. "Come." He gestured his hand down the staircase and gave his usual trademark smile.

Kaname only nodded and resumed his walking while pondering what was happening in Yuuki's room. So far, he hadn't heard any screaming or felt Yuuki's presence missing which meant she was safe. There was no scent of her blood in the air and he had asked his assistant, Seiren, to look over and protect Yuuki when he was not around-so why did Kaname feel so unease?

**.**

**.**

Yuuki hesitantly gripped the staircase's rail as she felt her stomach doing another somersault. She thought she had gotten rid of her nervousness an hour ago when her brother visited, but apparently it had made a comeback. She tried to take deep breaths and exhale them protractedly, but it was fatal, she felt so nervous that her legs were slightly shaking.

"I can do this," she reassured herself, closing her eyes for a brief moment. "Any minute now, Oniisama is going to give me the cue and I have to walk down this staircase." _Without falling that is_, she thought.

She then shook head from left to right and said, "No, no. No negative thoughts. I must stay positive, optimistic."

Meanwhile, downstairs from where Yuuki was standing, a large crowd of noble vampires were heedfully listening to Kaname's speech as they were still ignorant of Yuuki's existence.

"...so my parents thought it was for her best that she stay hidden until she reached a certain age, and tonight is her sixteenth birthday," Kaname announced, looking at everybody in the room.

"Yes, my parents, Otousama and Okaasama..." Yuuki thought of her parents and the memories she shared with them, especially their last day together.

She remembered that her mother would always tease her father and make him wash the dishes after supper. She remembered that she felt bad for her father, so she volunteered to help him and ended up getting tons of bubbles on her face. She remembered then that her father chuckled at her and she laughed while her mother scolded her father for letting their daughter help him before hugging both of them as she thought they were pretty cute covered in suds.

A smile formed on her lips and her heartbeat was no longer racing at a rapid rate. Those memories were the only things she had left from her parents and she would always treasure them forever. She missed them so much and wished that they could be with her at this very moment, then she would feel more comfortable and self-assured, but they were gone.

A sigh escaped her lips and she suddenly felt overwhelmed by those happy memories that reminded her of the fact that her parents had died. She no longer was in the mood for her soiree and turned her body around to go back to her room.

"...she is betrothed to me and I promised my parents that I would take good care of her..."

She stopped in her tracks as she heard that sentence and told herself, "I'm not alone... Oniisama is downstairs and I can't run away." She paused. "They want me to do this."

"Without further ado, I would like to present you my dearest sister and fiancée, Kuran Yuuki."

"Yes, I'm Kuran Yuuki and I can do this!" she whispered to herself.

Taking one step at a time, she straightened her posture and held her head high as she came into the view with the staircase and the crowd. As her right foot was lowered to the first step of the staircase, she was abruptly aware that everybody's attention was on her. When her left foot came in contact with the second step, she displayed a kind smile on her lips to appear friendly.

After the first couple of steps, everything then went naturally on its own accord. Before Yuuki knew it, she was standing next to Kaname. Her eyes roamed among the crowd and were relieved to see her friends beaming at her.

"Good evening everybody, I'm Kuran Yuuki and it's a pleasure to meet you all." Yuuki spreadanother smile across her face and inclined her head.

It took the crowd a while to recover from the gawking as they couldn't believe that the girl standing in front of them was Juuri and Haruka's daughter. Their doubt dissolved when they felt the strong and powerful presence that was emitting from her, it was very similar to Kaname's. Right away, the nobles bowed their heads to welcome the new pureblood.

The atmosphere then lightened up as the party continued its well-planned agenda. People went back to chatting with one another about either their plans for autumn or the very recent hot topic, Yuuki. Many people were eager to talk and socialize with Yuuki as they wanted to get to know her and find out what she was like. Much to her surprise, Yuuki managed to keep herself very calm and comfortable as she mingled with other vampires. She appeared intrigued when people shared short stories or jokes with her and laughed even when the jokes were not funny at all. She carefully spoke out of her thoughts of certain issues when it was appropriate.

"It was nice talking with you, Yuuki-sama. I'll be going now." The nobleman bowed and left to find his wife.

"Yuuki-sama!" Takuma called out, holding a hand up to signal where he was.

Yuuki turned her head to the balcony and grinned when she saw her group of friends waiting for her. She briskly approached them and asked were they enjoying the party.

"I'm good, by the way I'm looking forward to dancing with you later on," Takuma said, winking one eye at her.

"But you know, Yuuki-sama has to dance with Kaname-sama first, right?" Rima reminded, folding her arms and closing her eyes for a minute.

"Of course I know that. I can wait." Takuma didn't see any problem.

"And you know, after that, she has to dance with other important people in our society, like your grandpa," Shiki Senri mimicked Rima's actions by crossing his arms and leaned against the wall.

"Oh yeah..." Takuma frowned and turned towards the gloomy couple. "Why do you guys have to be so pessimistic all the time?"

Senri and Rima simply shrugged their shoulders.

"Ah, don't worry, I'm sure I'll get to dance with you tonight or maybe next time when we have another party," Yuuki said. "I'm pretty sure that Michiru-san will be hosting a couple more parties, so I can continue to meet new people in our society."

"Hey, isn't that Sara-sama?" Ruka inquired, tilting her head towards an elegant lady with blonde tresses at the entrance of the ball room.

Everybody in the group looked at Sara's direction and watched as she was greeted by Kaname.

"I think you have to go, Yuuki-sama, Kaname-sama is looking at our way," Takuma said.

Yuuki nodded her head and excused herself. As she approached Sara and Kaname, she couldn't help but admire the grace and charm Sara possessed—the way that she glided on the floor and the way that she laughed with her eyes closed and one hand covering her mouth to appear ladylike. Was Yuuki inferior? She didn't know, but she knew that she felt very uncomfortable when she saw Kaname took Sara's hand and placed a kiss on it.

"You must be Yuuki," Sara said.

"Yes, and you must be Sara-san." Yuuki bowed her head.

"We are some of the few remaining purebloods." Sara grinned and tipped her head to one side. "I hope we can become great friends and stick together."

Even though Sara's statement sounded benevolent, Yuuki felt ill at ease when they shook hands.

**.**

* * *

**.**

**Back at Yuuki's room**

"Once again, thank you and good night," Yuuki said to her maids and closed the doors. "What an exhausting day." She stretched herself and let out a yawn. All she wanted to do now was to hop into her cozy bed and go to sleep. She strode towards the bed and let herself fall onto it.

Indeed, she felt relieved that she had survived the night without making a fool out of herself, but she knew that this was her first step to society. There would be more nights similar to this one, and from now on, people will be looking up to her.

"Is that why you didn't want me to be involved with other vampires, Okaa-sama and Otou-sama?" she asked silently, closing her eyes as if she could see them there. Her breathing slowed down as she started to drift off to sleep but was soon pulled back to reality when she heard a knock on her door.

She knew who was the knocker and sat up on the bed as she told him to come in.

"Still awake?"

"Not for long, I'm a bit tired, is there something you need to…?" her voice trailed off as she looked up at him with sleepy eyes.

"No, not really."

"Oh?"

"I was just wondering how you were doing."

"I'm fine, Oniisama, thank you for your concern."

"Did you enjoy the party then?"

"It was good." She continued to keep her replies short to hint that she wanted to go to bed. Normally, sleep would be the last thing she would want to do when she was around Kaname, but not this time as she couldn't believe how indifferently he'd treated her earlier at the party. For some peculiar reason, his attitude towards her seemed to be listless and distant ever since they talked in her room before the soiree. She couldn't comprehend why there was a sudden shift in his behavior and dreaded that they were going through another awkward phrase.

"So…" He paused for a moment and took the opportunity to loosen the tight collar of his dress shirt. "The Cavendish siblings are leaving tomorrow."

"Yes, Will-san has told me about that." She rose from the bed and walked to her vanity desk in hope that the little walk could make her more awake.

"Speaking of William, he seemed to be next to you throughout the whole night." His tone of voice had become unexpectedly cold and Yuuki picked up her hair brush to avoid eye contact.

She knew where this was heading and she didn't want to highlight again that there was nothing romantic going on between her and William. She opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it when she thought of another way to approach the issue.

"So was Sara-san with you," she said calmly, secretly hoping that he did not catch her being jealous. "She was with you the whole night and did not leave your side."

"That was because we were discussing about business matters," he said plainly, not noticing how defensive that sounded to Yuuki's ears. He suddenly felt he was accused of being unfaithful, but didn't notice that was what Yuuki was trying to do.

"Same with Will-san and me." Yuuki stood up again and glimpsed at Kaname before retreating back to her bed.

"Do you like him?"

The question was very simple and straightforward, but Yuuki knew that her definition of _like_ was disparate than his. So she stood there, pondering how to explain the only person that she liked was nobody but him; Kuran Kaname.

"No, I don't like William in that kind of way," she tarried for a while before continuing, "I'm actually in love with someone else."

There was an absence of sound and speech in the room as those words left her mouth.

"Who?" It took him a tremendous amount of effort to say that word. He never thought that another man was going to take Yuuki from him—except Rido, but that was another case, Rido wanted Yuuki for a different purpose than love. He stared at her, stiffened his shoulders and asked, "Does he treat you well?" The images of a smiling Takuma and an embarrassed Hanabusa appeared in his head. "Does he love you?"

"He treats me well, he has always been kind to me…but I don't know if he loves me. I never really know what goes through his head," she sighed.

"Oh… Do I know him then?" He wanted to know who this amazing person was. The person who had stolen Yuuki's heart. He clandestinely made a mental note that he needed to get his secretary, Seiren, to perform a background check on this person.

"Yes. In fact, he's very close to you."

"I see…"

"He's about your height too and around your age." She twirled around and placed her index finger on the corner of her mouth, hoping he would get the subtle hint.

"Oh?" he tried to feign interest and hoped she wouldn't give him the details of that guy's personality or how she fell in love with him. Knowing the fact that he had lost to this man was enough for him to digest today.

"But I think I'm such a fool to love him…" She slumped her shoulders down and pouted while looking down at the ground.

"And why is that?"

She now felt her heart pounding hard against her rib cage and knew that this was her chance to confess. She tightened her fists and her eyes unhurriedly met his as she said, "Because, I'm helplessly in love with my brother."

Their eyes locked in gaze as she plastered a light-hearted smile upo n her face. Seeing the usual stoical expression on his face, doubt began to enter in Yuuki's mind that her love will be returned. She was expecting him to smile back or at least say something, but he didn't and so she turned away.

Had she got it wrong all this time? That he only saw her as his little sister and nothing more? Could it be that he was simply willing to marry her because of their parents?

"Just go," her voice almost choked those words as she felt tears forming in her eyes. She had to stop thinking about how her love will be permanently one sided. In the back of her mind, she wondered if this was how Hanabusa thought and felt when she rejected him.

To express how physically and mentally tired she was, she pulled the covers of her bed and reached for a pillow. Just as she was about to climb into the bed, two arms circled around her waist and hot breath ticked her neck.

He then turned her around to face him and lifted her chin with his fingers to face him. "Then I must be a bigger fool because I'm in love with a fool." He drew her closer to him and leaned down to kiss her.

She hesitated to respond as she didn't know if this was all an act to make her feel better. He soon pulled away from her but didn't manage to increase the distance between them as she gave a hesitant kiss back, wanting to test whether he had meant those sentiments.

He reassured her by drawing her closer to him, deepening the kiss. She let out a small giggle as they fell unto the bed with him on top. He looked at her as he was amused by her giggle and brushed some strands of hair away from her face.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You, for being in love with a fool," she said, caressing his right cheek.

"It's not foolish when you love that person very deeply." He took her hand and kissed it.

"Really?" she asked, looking into his eyes and searching for an answer. They both knew that she was questioning about their relationship and what kind of love they had for each other.

"Really," he assured her and kissed the tip of her nose before reclaiming her mouth again with his.

The kiss lingered for more than a few seconds and neither of them wanted to take a break. Typically, Yuuki would had been embarrassed by this long kiss and pushed him away, yet both her heart and body refused to stop as she felt the desire of having him close to her. So she wrapped her arms around his neck to have him closer, making their bodies pressed against each other. Excitement was coursing through her body and she wondered if this was due to the fact that they had never been so intimate with one another. Had they been longing for each other for so long that they couldn't control themselves anymore?

His kisses soon trailed all the way down to her collar bone and went back up to her neck. He couldn't help but loiter there because the beast within of him wanted to get a taste of her sweet, delicious blood. Obliviously, his fangs appeared and lightly brushed them against her pale neck, sending a shiver down her spine as they felt very cold.

A gasp escaped from her mouth as his fangs almost pierced into her skin and he immediately became conscious what he was doing. He stopped and pulled away before he could lose control again.

"I'm sorry," he managed to say. "I just need to—"

"Drink blood," she answered for him and then hesitated before saying the next couple of words, "I understand and you can drink it."

_Drink it._

Did she mean that she was giving him permission to drink her blood? He looked back at her and found her tilting her head at him with her all of her hair pushed to her right shoulder—exposing her defenseless neck.

"Yuuki…" he started and was ready to explain to her that she didn't have to do this.

"It's alright. I always drink blood from you…so it's only fair that you drink from me too." She lowered her gaze as she felt a blush creeping unto her cheeks. "I insist. I want to experience the pain, share it with you."

"The pain lessens each time you do it, so it doesn't bother me," he tried to persuade her to change her mind.

"But it bothers me," she stubbornly said. "It makes me feel selfish."

"Are you sure?" he asked, caught between the desires of satisfying his hunger and making her happy. He wanted to make sure that was what she really wants.

"Positive, unless you want me to ask William…" She purposefully teased and in a blink of an eye, she found herself trapped between him and the bed.

"There's no necessary to do that," he said solemnly.

"I was just kidding, Oniisama. I remember what you taught me, it would be a taboo." She reminded him.

"Would it be a taboo between us?" He thought back to the night when she was only twelve years old and asked him that question.

"Never," she said determinedly, shaking her head slightly from left to right. "A vampire once told me that the most effective way to satisfy his quench is to drink his true love's blood."

He felt touched to hear that for the second time, not surprised at all that she still has the same answer, but he was in awe that she was so devoted to him and kept his words close to her heart. He only smiled and nuzzled into her neck affectionately. He then licked her neck to prepare for the bite and noticed her body flinched a little when his fangs made contact with her skin.

_So this is how it feels, having your blood slowly taken from you, _Yuuki thought. Her eyes dully looking at the ceiling as she didn't feel much pain at all except the initial bite. She tried not to have too many thoughts in her mind as she didn't want him to read them. However, her mind wandered off to the memory of the day that her parents died and…Rido.

_In the reminiscence, she saw herself running up the staircase while falling down occasionally as she was too anxious to see her parents. She had smelled her parents' blood in the air and felt their auras were very faint. In a matter of minutes, she reached to the front door of their manor and yanked it open to witness a disturbing scene. _

_Her throat was all dried up as she saw her parents lying down on the ground and she would have assumed that they were dead until she saw them turned their faces towards her. They had blood all over their clothes, faces, and bodies. Despite how awful their appearances were, they still managed to plant beautiful smiles on their lips. _

_She then saw her parents mouthing some words as their bodies began dissolving into thin air. The whole scene then darkened as she shouted to her brother._

Yuuki was snapped back to reality when she felt her whole body was becoming weaker and weaker by the moment. She loosened the grip on his shirt—without even realizing she'd been gripping so tightly—before closing her eyes.

"Oniisama…" She muttered, feeling light-headed and placing one hand on her forehead.

Hearing how feeble her voice had become, he instantaneously pulled his fangs out and realized that he had taken more blood than he intended because he was so thirsty. He saw how her face was slightly paler than usually and regret panged in his chest. He took her hand away from her face and kissed it.

As he was about to tell her that he shouldn't have done it and bring self-pity upon himself, Yuuki peeked a glance at him and said softly, "I'm fine, I just want to rest." She then exhaled as she closed her eyes again. "Just hold me."

**.**

**.**

* * *

**Sneak Peek of Next Chapter:**

Staring at the silver gun with the writing _Bloody Rose _engraved to the side that was pointing right at her heart, Yuuki never thought she would be caught in such a threatened situation.

"What are you doing here, vampire?" the silver headed guy asked acidly.

"I was just…looking around," Yuuki replied. She wanted to say more but found herself lost in words as she felt captivated by the man's mauve-colored eyes.

"Really? Or were you looking for a mid-night snack?" The guy was evidently not convinced. "After all, this is an academy and it's really late at night. What could a girl, or correction, vampire like you, be wandering on this territory with a black cloak?"

Yuuki felt her cheeks burning up as he continued to rant on she was going harm the students at the academy. "I'm not here to cause—" Her elucidation got interrupted when a shadowy figure jumped out of a nearby tree and landed behind the man.

With fast reflex, the man aimed at that figure and fired his gun. Yuuki flinched a little as the gun shot was very loud and couldn't believe her eyes to see a slender hand clutched to the man's throat. It was . . .

* * *

**Authoress' Note:** Hmm … so who do you think that mysterious person is in the sneak preview? And will he/she get hurt?

Anyways, that's all for this chapter. So finally! This story's setting will be shifting to Cross Academy—where Yuuki has to deal with Zero, meet the humans aka Day Class, be involved in school activities, learn about blood pills, and maybe, have a pillow fight with the Night Class (Takuma sure will be happy)^^.

Lastly, it will be lovely if I can get some feedback on this chapter. I'd spent a lot of time on this chapter, so I'm very excited to hear your opinions about it^^! Comments and constructive criticism are warmly welcomed~. As for the next update, I'm happy to say that I got some scenes down, but I have midterms coming up next week and the week after that…so I don't know when I'll be updating… However, I'll try my very best to not take that long while balancing time with school.


	12. Destined Enemies

Hi everybody^^.

Here's another update—even though it took me 2 months, it's faster than my usual time right? Ha-ha. Seriously though, I was very touched with all the reviews I got—they motivated me a lot and I can't say enough how I appreciated them. Especially to all the reviewers who commented anonymously (no accounts here), I just want to say thanks! *bows*

Special thanks to my dearest twin, kawaii hime-sama, for beta-ing over this chapter! I don't know how I could have finished this chapter without you . You're always helpful and sweet—enduring my endless mistakes in writing (grammar or plot-wise). Also, thank you, Rayar, for helping me with one particular scene (you had inspired me)^^!

Without further ado, here's chapter 12, be warned that it has more than one Kuran fluff (I might have went overboard). I don't think there's tons of plot-movement, this chapter focuses more on the individual characters (somewhat). As for whatever happened to Madeleine and William (if you readers are curious), I think I'll talk about them in the future chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Destined Enemies**

**.**

**.**

Watching her sleep peacefully was something that he never got tired of and actually found it to be a slight-hobby as he liked seeing her in such a relaxed state. She looked more beautiful and sweeter than usual as she cuddled next to him. The small smile lying on her lips made him wonder what she was thinking or dreaming about.

He wanted to reach his hand out and stroke her hair but hastily changed his mind as that might wake her up. Then he thought about the many events that happened last night and couldn't believe that they had finally bought their relationship to a whole new level. He was happy to hear her confession of loyalty and love for him, but at the same time, it also made him felt guiltier.

…Because he wasn't being completely honest with her about something…and that something was about his past. He was keeping a secret from her that could possibly have a huge impact on her once she discovered who he really was. He wasn't _exactly _the Kuran Kaname that she thought he was.

Suddenly, Yuuki moved a little and changed her sleeping position with now her back facing towards him.

If she knew his secret, would she leave him?

This time, he turned away as he couldn't imagine that he would never get to be with her and see her sunny smile that always brightened his day and all his dilemmas would disappear for a while from his mind, giving him the warm and gentle feeling that he was loved.

Loved. Or rather love. What was it? He didn't understand what kind of feeling was it. The last time that he felt something similar to this was many years, or correction, centuries ago when he was with that mysterious hooded lady. Before he met the hooded lady, the term 'love' did not exist in his life as he could never have any friends or family as people around him were not vampires and didn't understand the situation that he was in. He tried to befriend those people by helping out in the village to show that he was a good fellow, but at the end, the trust that he worked hard to build with the people was gone as fast as someone putting out a hot blazing fire with icy cold water.

Despite all the good deeds he did, people thought he was a monster because he maintained his youth and did not age a single day as years flew by in his village. It was not long before he was shunned by the people and he wandered aimlessly around the world, lost. He'd forgotten how long he was lost for, as he saw no use of keeping track of dreary years, but he did remember when he was found by someone. He had met a hooded lady who was in the same situation as he was. She took him under her wing and showed him a vampire society. Soon, he discovered that the lady and he had the same attitudes towards humans. Together, they worked hard to strive for a cure of their 'disease' and a solution to co-exist with humans. Just as everything was improving for him, the lady sacrificed her life in an experiment to achieve their goal.

He was devastated when he lost her and once again, he no longer saw a purpose in life anymore. As soon as he took care of some business and made sure that the humans could defend themselves from vampires, he decided to go in a deep slumber. He thought that it was better that way, but he didn't know that it was impossible to run away from your problems. More problems arose when he was reawakened by another vampire named Kuran Rido and he was forced to start a new life as a baby due to the circumstances of that incident.

In his new life, he knew that he was merely filling in for the person who was killed during his process of being reawakened. Thus, he felt obliged to be the perfect son of the Kuran family and locked up his memories in the hope that it would make things easier. However, as time passed, he regained his memories and they began to haunt him. They were bothering him to the point that he wanted to reveal his true identity to his new parents that adored him so much—but he had faltered when Yuuki was born and entered into his life.

When he first laid his eyes upon her, she seemed so fragile and delicate. He felt a sense that he needed and wanted to protect her as he failed for protecting the people he cared about in his previous life. Protector and guardian were the roles that he took as they grew up together. Never would he think that they would become partners and lovers. But how could he not?

He was hopelessly falling in love with her each time they spent time together from reading bedtime stories to teaching how she could use her vampire powers.

"Kaname…," she called out softly and turned her body again, bringing him out of his thoughts. The tips of her right hand were lightly touching his back as if she was trying to prevent him from leaving.

He slowly turned to see her that she was still sound asleep.

"Oniisama."

Another mumble.

Hearing that familiar word, he sometimes wished that she would simply say his name without the honorific because as much as respect that the title offered and had, each time she said it, it reminded him that he was not the person who she thought he was. In other words, he was not her brother and was actually—

"Oniisama?" This time, her voice was clearer.

He looked down at her and saw that she was awake with curious eyes blinking once in a while. She then took the sleeve of her nightgown and rubbed her eyes. After she was done, she began to feel uncomfortable and self-conscious as he was still staring at her. Was there something wrong? Or was there something on her face?

"Good afternoon," he finally said and smiled.

She shyly nodded her head and greeted him with the usual honorific title included.

"How was your sleep?"

"It was restful, how about you, Oniisama?"

He suddenly frowned, but it was not at the fact that he didn't have a good sleep, it was the fact that she called him "Oniisama" for the third time since she woken up.

She mirrored his frown and asked, "Did you not have a good sleep?" She then looked embarrassed. "Was it me that caused it? Because I know sometimes I move a lot in my sleep and the pillows end up everywhere on the floor when I wake up… Oh no, I didn't kick you did I? I'm so sorry if I did!"

He chuckled as she suggested more possible reasons why he didn't sleep well. "No, no. It's not that, Yuuki."

"Then what is it?" she asked curiously, moving closer to him and pressing her hands on his chest. "Tell me, Oniisama."

"There is it again, you said it."

"Said what?"

"The honorific."

She gave him a puzzled look as she didn't understand why he minded that title. She had been calling him that since she could start talking.

"You see, Yuuki, how would you feel if I called you imouto (little sister)?" he asked.

She immediately displayed an upside down smile on her lips. She didn't like the sound of that title as it sounded so foreign and strange to her. It just didn't feel right as she would prefer him to call her first name because it gave a sense of closeness.

"Well…?" He was waiting for her reply.

"In all honesty?" she paused. "I'm not very fond of it. I would much prefer you call me Yuuki."

"And that's how I feel too, each time you use an honorific when calling me. It makes me feel that I'm superior to you, but we are of the same rank," he explained.

"Oh, I see." She nodded her head a little and thought for a few seconds. "I never thought of it that way, even though now, I admit, it has become a habit." She couldn't even come up with a number of estimation of how often she did it. "It's going to take me a while to get used to not doing that…but if it makes you feel better. I will try my best." She smiled and looked into his eyes.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied and lay her head on his chest to listen to his soothing heartbeat. "Hey Oniisam—Kaname, it has been a while since we could be like this, no?"

"The last time we slept next to each other was about six years ago, when you were only ten years old."

"Yes, you had told me that I couldn't constantly sleep next to you anymore because I had to start being independent. So aren't you spoiling me now?" She reminisced back all the times that she had to practically beg him to stay in the same bed with her until she fell asleep.

"If you put it that way, then I guess so. Should I get out of bed then?" he asked, shifting his body a little.

"No!" she replied rather too quickly and clung onto his shirt which made him chuckle. She wasn't going to let him go that easily after she endured those many lonely nights without him. "Let's stay like this for a few more minutes."

He proceeded to stroke her long hair and asked, "Yuuki, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, why?" In fact, she wanted to say she felt wonderful as there were no more misunderstandings between them.

"Last night…did I take too much blood?"

"It's alright, Onii—Kaname, if I wasn't okay, then I wouldn't be talking to you, right?" she asked, reassuring him with another smile. She then closed her eyes. "Let's talk about something else. Tell me the status of Cross Academy like you always do."

"The Day Class is currently settling in the academy. Everything is going according to plan and we will be moving in very soon, perhaps next month or the month after that," he reported.

"What about Zero?"

"Well, judging from our recent short conversations, I presume he's still against the idea."

"Still? But the academy will be opening soon," she said in disbelief. She didn't understand why that Zero guy was so stubborn. "I wonder, will he ever change his mind about us?"

"Hard to say, he has a complicated past."

"Oh." She was about to say how that was not be a sufficient reason but had let it go as she didn't know how complicated it was.

"Hm, I'm just curious, how does Kiyoto behave when he's around you?" He decided to switch topics in their conversation.

"Simply adorable and well-mannered," she answered animatedly. "He can be affectionate sometimes. Why? Is he not to you?" She lifted herself away from him.

"Not really, he doesn't seem like he wants to play with me," he said dejectedly, sounding as his own son wouldn't play with him and they were not spending enough quality time together. "Each time it seems if I want to interact with him, then I would have to ask him a question. Even when it comes to chess, when I see him holding the board, I would have to be the one to ask him."

Yuuki couldn't help but softly laugh at the statement he had just made. She wondered if he realized that he sounded pretty childish in the way he had said it. He sounded as if he was a little boy who didn't fit in with other boys around his age. "Perhaps he's just scared of you," she joked.

"Am I really that scary?" He took the compliment seriously and sat up on the bed.

"Well, we're purebloods," she said tenderly, not believing that for once she had to explain something to him. "You were the one who told me that we carry the image of authority and fear. Not surprising that he's afraid of you as I still find some servants and other vampires feel nervous around me as if I would kill them if they insulted me or said something wrong."

"But, he's different when he's with you."

"True, but that's because I took care of him when he was a baby and watched him grow up," she explicated. "Besides, Kiyomi appears to take a liking of you."

"I suppose so." He did a little nod with his head.

"Don't worry about it, he will feel more comfortable around you when you talk with him more." She searched for his hand in the blankets and patted it. "Maybe, you're better with little girls. I loved to be around with you when I was small and I still do—and I'm not just saying that because you're my fiancé." She winked at him. "And, if it makes you feel any better, Kiyoto is not that close with Hanabusa...though, Hanabusa was never good with younger children as he would bore them with scientific rants." She then shook her head. "I forgot how I coped with it, but I turned out okay."

"Why, I feel so flattered to hear that, thank you," he said sincerely, feeling grateful that he was not alone on this.

"You're welcome. Kiyoto is an adorable child, very lovable indeed. I hope one day one of our children would be like him," she said casually, lying back in bed. She then tucked her hands beneath her head and stared at the ceiling. "Too bad we could never welcome him into our family unless we have a daughter, then maybe they could fall in love and marry."

"Yuuki…"

"I know, I know." She waved a dismissing hand at him. "Purebloods are supposed to marry to other purebloods. It was just a silly thought, really, and besides we don't even have a daughter."

"Not yet."

"Yes, not yet—" Yuuki wasn't able to finish her sentence as she suddenly found herself pinned down against the bed with Kaname on top of her. If it wasn't for her lack of blood from last night, Yuuki's face would have been the shade of crimson. She knew that she was to expect this event taking place in the future, but she didn't expect that it would be this soon. "Ka-kaname, what are you doing?" She began to cogitate how, or rather, when he became so seductive.

Nuzzling his head into her neck, he replied, "Making your wish come true, and I've always wanted a family of my own as well." He then whispered into her ear, "Isn't that what you wanted?"

Before she could protest that this was not what she meant or implied, a knock was heard on the door, but the two purebloods didn't bother to even throw a glance towards the door.

"Ignore it."

"Yuuki-sama?" Hanabusa's voice was heard over the door, causing Yuuki to turn her head towards the door and take the opportunity to get out of the sticky situation. "We should answer," she said. Relief poured down to her, she was thankful that Hanabusa had interrupted as she felt she wasn't prepared for what she thought was going to happen.

"No, that can wait." Seeing that she still wasn't resisting or withdrawing from him, he continued to invade her private space by softly nibbling on her ear lobe.

"It tickles!" she exclaimed and a fit of giggles erupted from her, unknowingly easing her level of anticipation. "And we're going off-tangent here, it would be terribly rude if we ignore it. Now be good and let me go." She ruffled his hair with her hand.

"Not unless you make me," he challenged her, resting his head on her chest.

She knew that he was a lot stronger than she was, but since they were the same rank, she decided to test her theory if her powers were as strong or at least somewhere close to his. Taking a deep breath and mustering all of her strength, she made an effort to push him off. Little did she knew that he was so distracted by her that he had let down his defense and was unaware of the sudden force against him; thus, he fell off the bed with a loud thud.

Yuuki immediately gasped and peered over the edge of the bed. "I'm so sorry! I thought you would be ready for it or would have at least expected it." She hopped from her bed to the ground, offering her right hand to help him stand up. "I didn't know that I still have some strength despite last night…"

Just as Kaname was about to take her hand and pull her down to him as a small revenge, Hanabusa asked what was wrong and Yuuki naturally jerked her head along with her hand to tell him that everything was all right.

"Are you sure? Would you like me to come in?" Hanabusa's voice was filled with concern.

"Oh, no, no! It's okay, I'm coming now. Give me a second!" she shouted, grabbing her dressing robe to hide her white nightgown that now had maroon polka dots around its collar. She quickly slipped into the robe and smoothed her hair out before opening the door.

"Good afternoon…Yuuki?" Hanabusa's words halted as he took in the appearance of Yuuki. He wasn't much surprised that she was in such a disheveled status, but was rather surprised how he _always_ saw her in that status. He briefly speculated if she had any pride of keeping her image prim and proper—just the way Kaname did.

"Good afternoon, Hanabusa." She plastered a smile on her face and hoped that he would just overlook her appearance. "Is there something you need? Or has your mother sent for me?"

"Oh, yes, I just want to give you this." He held up a small box and pushed it towards her. "Open it." She did what he said and took out an item out of the box. "It's a pair of sunglasses, they should help you when you go out in the afternoon." He then pointed at the grey-tinted glasses. "These should help reduce the brightness and intensity of the sunlight."

"Thank you." She felt it was very sweet for him to remember that even now, her eyes were sensitive to the sunlight.

"I know, I know, it's a bit random of me to give you this, especially at this hour. Plus you don't usually go out in the afternoons and I've always forgot to give you this due to my busy schedule," Hanabusa explained, unsure if Yuuki needed to know what his intention was.

"That's very kind and thoughtful of you, Hanabusa." The source of the voice was not what Hanabusa imagined it to be—soft and sweet—but it was somewhat husky and way too deep for a girl, even if she did have a bad case of the flu.

Although that Hanabusa was often used to the cold temperature due to his power over the element of ice, he felt his body froze a little when he heard Kaname's voice in the background and saw him appeared next to Yuuki.

"Kaname-sama, good evening!" Hanabusa greeted, not noticing that it was not evening yet. He tried hard to keep eye contact with Kaname as his attention was diverted to Kaname's guise—too messy hair and half-buttoned collared shirt. He couldn't help but jump to conclusions on what the purebloods were doing before he came into the scene…first the giggling, then a loud thud and the faint scent of Yuuki's blood in the air. He thought that those kinds of _things _were supposed to happen after they get married. Did they mess up the order of events?

His judgmental perspective then shifted to being afraid of the consequences that lay ahead of him if he had interrupted something important, his parents were going to scold and blame him for the delay of the Kuran heirs. Perspiration began to form on his forehead and he decided that he should get out of there as soon as possible while he still could make it out alive.

"Anyways! I'll be going now and I'll not waste your precious time any longer." Hanabusa respectfully bowed to them. "I apologize profoundly for disturbing you." He then sped down the hallway like there was no tomorrow.

"He left so fast," Yuuki commented as she watched Hanabusa zooming madly down the hallway. She then turned to look at Kaname.

"What?" He had a clueless expression.

She was about to say how he might be the reason why Hanabusa left so fast because of the scary image that Kaname always portrayed—which reinforced the idea that people were more afraid of him than Yuuki. However, to avoid making Kaname feel bad, she settled not to bring it up again.

"Shall we resume?" he asked smilingly, enveloping his arms around her and resting his head on her head. She raised her eyebrows as she was a bit surprised to see that he wasn't going to give up. As much as she wanted to stay in the position and be in his warm embrace, she wasn't going to let him have his way. So she turned her whole body to face him and placed both her hands on his torso. "Oniisama," she said purposefully in a mellifluous voice.

"Hmm?"

**.**

Few seconds later…

**.**

The reverberating sound of a door being slammed rung in Kaname's ears. He couldn't believe that he had just been kicked out of Yuuki's room because he was only teasing her and was not going to go any further than kisses. However, he was glad that she was dead serious about chastity. He had also made yet another mental note that he wouldn't be teasing about making love anymore….that was until they ever get married.

**.  
**

* * *

**.**

**Aidous' Parlor Room**

**.**

"As you are all ware of, once we attend Cross Academy, we are not allowed to drink blood anymore." Yuuki took out a glass cup and filled it with water. "Therefore, we will be taking these pills called blood tablets to satisfy our thirst."

"This furthers my reasons to not attend the academy," Hanabusa muttered under his breath. "Ouch! Ruka…" He glared at the daughter of the Souen family next to him, who had just elbowed him in the ribs. "What was that for?" he hissed.

"For being pessimistic, you're not the only one who has to take those tablets, we're all in this together," Ruka hissed back, crossing her legs. "Right, Akatsuki?" She turned her head to face Hanabusa's cousin who nodded his head.

Yuuki overheard the small conversation that Hanabusa and Ruka had but wasn't bothered by it much, as she had gotten used to hearing them bicker all the time. She continued her presentation to her friends by holding up the tiny white tablet and dropping it into the cup. She then swirled the glass cup as the tablet dissolved and the water was dyed to a light red color. "The only down side is it doesn't have much taste." She took a sip and tried hard not to stick her tongue out or wrinkle her nose to show discontentment. "So I would suggest after you take it." She held up a box of sweet. "Take a piece of candy or…" She held up the other box of mints. "A mint as a complement to the drink, so it can wash away that dull taste."

"Or pocky," Rima proposed and fed a pocky to Senri, who was lazily sitting on the settee. "Is that okay, Yuuki-sama?"

"Yes, that would be alright. It doesn't have to be mint or candy, it could be other categories of food as long as it's not blood," Yuuki replied.

"What about a very, very rare steak?" Hanabusa inquired, smirking. "Ow! Ruka!" This time he got out of his chair and stared down at Ruka. "Why do you keep hitting me? I was only joking. You know that I won't go against the rules." Ruka raised one of her eyebrows skeptically. "Oh, is this an excuse for what happened last time? You're still unhappy for what I did last time, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ruka played dumb and looked away from him.

"You're holding a grudge. I was really hungry! So… I couldn't control myself that time!" Hanabusa explained and felt his friends' gaze on him as those words left his mouth. He quickly thought what he had said and wanted to do a face-palm as it could be interpreted wrongly—such as he was lusting for blood and drank from Ruka without her permission. "It's not what you guys think!" He waved his hands defensively. "What happened was that…argh." He paused to groan in frustration, feeling embarrassed on what he was about to say, "I ate her chocolate mousse cake by accident last week…"

"Accident? What do you mean by accident? It was intentional! I saw it in your eyes, you were ogling my cake!" Ruka stood up from her chair as Yuuki sighed that she had to witness another endless argument between those two. "I worked hours to bake that cake and it was for someone special!"

Yuuki was about to signal to the other vampires that they had to start moving the furniture out of Ruka and Hanabusa's grasp to ensure that they won't be damaged or abused like last time, but got distracted when Kaname came into the room.

"Kaname-sama," Akatsuki, Rima, and Senri said in unison.

Hanabusa and Ruka immediately stopped throwing death glares at each other and glanced at the doorway to see Kaname. Both of them quickly greeted him and decided that they were going to continue the battle later.

"Welcome back, Kaname!" Yuuki eagerly ran over to him to give him a hug. "How was your trip? This time you got back fast. I thought you were not returning until this Friday!"

"The trip was alright, I just had to talk to Chairman Cross about something." Kaname returned the hug and smiled. "Did you miss me?" Yuuki nodded her head. "By the way, aren't we forgetting about something?"

"About what?" Yuuki was confused.

He leaned down and whispered, "Remember you said that each time I get back early from my trip, that you would reward me with _something_?"

"Something?" she repeated the word and waited for that word to sink into her mind. She thought back to the last couple of conversations she had with him and soon remembered that she had told him that she would kiss him every time he got back early from his trip as an encouragement. "I was only teasing, Oniisama!" It was not that she didn't want to kiss him, but not in front of their friends as she found that to be a tad awkward.

"So are you taking back your words?" Kaname frowned and Yuuki instantly knew that he was trying to get even with her because she kicked him out of her room the other day. Technically, she did not specify whether she was kidding or not at the time, so she felt compelled to stay true to her words. Besides, she also felt a little horrible for how she tricked him last time.

"Alright," Yuuki said before leaning in for a peck on the cheek, but he moved so that her lips would meet his.

As the purebloods shared a quick kiss, their friends were minding their own business to give them some privacy while Takuma was the only one smiling at the sight and mumbling how sweet that was. However, Hanabusa and Ruka painfully looked away from the couple as they were reminded that they were the victims of unrequited love. Akatsuki was carefully observing Ruka and placed his hand over hers to comfort her. Rima boringly leaned onto Senri's shoulder as she continued to feed pocky to him.

After the kiss ended, Yuuki felt a little too flustered to move while Kaname spoke, "Good evening, how is everybody doing?"

"I think we're fine, right?" Takuma answered, grinning and casting a glance towards the two vampires that were fighting at first.

"Well, we were doing fine until Hanabusa accused me of holding a grudge—" Ruka tried to explain.

"Yes, but there was a misunderstanding," Hanabusa interjected, not wanting to involve Kaname into this trouble. "Everything's peachy now as I'll go get a slice of cake for Ruka later on…" Hanabusa narrowed his eyes in annoyance and Ruka smiled in triumphant. He knew that she did it on purpose so she could be compensated for the cake loss.

**.  
**

* * *

**.**

"I feel a little nervous," Yuuki said, tugging at Kaname's coat as they strolled the way to Cross Kaien's office at Cross Academy. "This is my first time meeting a human."

"Don't worry, the chairman is friendly and nice." Kaname stopped walking and took a good at his fiancée, who was wearing a full-length hooded-black cloak in an attempt to not be easily recognized by other vampires as the couple didn't want them to follow them around. For a split second, she reminded him of the hooded lady who always had a white cloak on…

"Kaname…? Are you alright?" she asked abruptly when she caught the sorrowful expression he unconsciously made on his face.

"Oh, yes," he answered and pushed his thoughts about that lady to the back of his mind, "as I was saying, remember, you have attended a party that had over one hundred guests who you didn't know and some of them were members of the Ancient Council—yet you did an excellent job of presenting yourself."

She thought of what he had said and nodded her head slightly. "True," she managed to say and exhaled.

"Now, come, we don't want to keep him waiting." He smiled to reassure her and took her hand as they proceeded to go down the corridor. They soon arrived in front of Kaien's office and Kaname knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Kaname turned the doorknob and gently pulled Yuuki in with him. "Chairman Cross."

"Ah, good evening Kaname-kun," Kaien replied, busily shuffling some paperwork on his desk. "How may I assist you today?"

"I've brought someone I would like you to meet."

"Hm?" Kaien got curious and decided to do a quick glance at the guest. "And who might that be—Juuri?" He dropped his pen and was taken back at the sight of Yuuki, who resembled so much to her mother with her long auburn hair and soft wine-colored eyes—especially with the cloak she was wearing because it reminded him how he attempted to attack Juuri one time when she was wandering in the streets with a black cloak on.

"You knew my mother?" Yuuki asked, pulling her hood back which gave Kaien a better view of her face.

"Chairman Cross, this is my sister, Kuran Yuuki."

It took a while for Kaien to regain his composure as the young girl standing before him was the child of Juuri, the baby that Juuri was trying to protect on that very day he tried to attack her. "Ah, nice to meet you, Yuuki-chan." Kaien got out of his seat to walk over to Yuuki. "I guess I mistook you as your mother as you resemble her so much." He scratched the back of his head. "And yes, I knew your mother, she was a marvelous and kind person who inspired me to build this academy. If it weren't for her, then I don't think Cross Academy would be standing here today."

Yuuki smiled upon hearing that and said, "Yes, she was. She was a great mother too." She found it quite interesting to hear praise about her mother from a human. Perhaps, they could have something in common to talk about.

**.**

**.**

Staring at the silver gun with the writing Bloody Rose engraved to the side that was pointing right at her heart, Yuuki never thought she would be caught in such a threatened situation. Now how exactly did she get in that situation? She was simply touring the academy's grounds by herself because Kaien had suggested it and when she felt somebody was following her, she slowly turned her body to find a silver headed guy aiming a gun at her.

"What are you doing here, vampire?" the guy asked acidly.

"I was just…looking around," Yuuki replied. She wanted to say more but found herself lost in words as she felt captivated by the man's mauve-colored eyes.

"Really? Or were you looking for a mid-night snack?" The guy was evidently not convinced. "After all, this is an academy and it's late at night. What could a girl, no, a vampire like you, be wandering on this territory with a black cloak?"

Yuuki felt her cheeks burning up as he continued to rant on she was going harm the students at the academy. "I'm not here to cause—" Her elucidation got cut short when a shadowy figure jumped out of a nearby tree and landed behind the man.

With fast reflex, the man aimed and fired his gun at that figure. Yuuki's shoulders flinched slightly as the gun shot was almost deafening and she saw a slender hand clutching the man's throat. The hand belonged to none other than Seiren, Kaname's secretary and body guard.

"Leave Yuuki-sama alone or I'll kill you," Seiren spoke coldly.

"Why should I? And I can kill you too." The guy eyed his gun that was pointing at her head.

"Enough," Kaname said and stepped into the scene. He gestured his hand at Seiren to retrieve and half-smiled at the other guy. "Zero-kun, if you may, please lower your gun. We mean no harm."

"That's what you all say and it's quite hard to believe when your fellow vampires' action prove otherwise," Zero said.

"And that is why we're here, to prove that humans and vampires can co-exist peacefully together," Kaname responded calmly, standing protectively in front of Yuuki.

"The only way that humans and vampires can co-exist peacefully is when vampires don't interfere with humans."

"How do you know this won't work unless we give it a try?"

"Because vampires are involved."

"Alright!" Kaien popped out of nowhere and stood between the two guys. He raised his left hand as he said, "What's with all the commotion? Are you guys having a party or something?" He grinned and pushed Zero's outreaching arm down. "Ah, Yuuki-chan, I see you have met my son, Kiryuu Zero."

"I don't recall ever recognizing you as my father," Zero muttered, placing his gun back in his holster.

Kaien didn't seem to be bothered by the comment and asked, "Is he bothering you? He can be a bit impulsive sometimes, but usually he is…somewhat normal."

"Look who's talking, Mister-I-am-always-optimistic." Zero crossed his arms and glared at Kaien.

"Anyways, since we're all here, let's go back to my office to discuss about prefects." Kaien had his trademark smile on his face again and lead them down the hall.

**.**

**.**

"To ensure the safety of our lovely human students, Zero-kun will be patrolling on school grounds at night to make sure that nothing goes wrong." Kaien poured tea into his cup. "What I mean is that he will make sure that all human students stay within their designated dorms and if they do wander, then he will escort them back."

"That would be similar to a body guard for the Day Class?" Yuuki inquired.

"Yes and if there are any disputes or accidents, he will report back to me and I shall take care of it." Kaien blew on his cup of tea before taking a little sip. "Would you like some?" He inclined his head towards Yuuki.

"No thank you," Yuuki politely said, "will there be only one prefect? And what about the Night Class?"

"What, are you afraid that humans will suck the vampire's blood?" Zero scoffed and found her inquiry to be ridiculous.

Yuuki began to feel a tiny distaste for Zero due to his last remark, but kept her voice gentle as she said, "No, I just thought it will be fair if there's someone representing the Night Class." She then narrowed her eyes at him. "Besides, how do I know you won't be biased? Will you carry out your duty properly?" Zero stayed silent as he felt her stare intimidating.

"Um…what I'd in mind is that we should have two prefects, but I haven't found another potential person to do such a task," Kaien spoke suddenly. He then used his index finger to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"Then how about I take that position?" Yuuki suggested, giving a hopeful look as she wanted to participate in making sure that the academy was running smoothly.

"Absolutely—" Zero was about to remonstrate and bring up the argument that she was a vampire when Kaien interrupted.

"Sure, that's actually a brilliant idea!" Kaien slammed his fist into his palm. "Why didn't I think of that? It would indeed be much fairer instead of getting another person from the Day Class and you're a pureblood, so you would have no trouble dealing with other vampires."

"But she can't even use a vampire hunter's weapon nor hold it!" Zero managed to voice his opinion before Kaien could continue to rant what a magnificent experience it would be for them two.

"Technically, we have the ability to wield a vampire hunter's weapon; it just causes quite enormous pain when we possess it." Kaname said and glanced at Zero for a brief moment. "Would you like me to demonstrate?" Silence. "Keep in mind that vampires hate those weapons, do you think it's easy for us to possess those weapons and use it against our own people? The burden of responsibility is on us and let me remind you that we vampires can be cruel and reckless when needed, we punish harshly on people who do not abide by the rules."

"Well, I just hope that you keep that in mind." Zero cast a glance at the two purebloods, particularly at Yuuki, and exited the room with an attitude that he wouldn't care less if that had happened.

**.**

* * *

**.**

On the ride back to the Aidou's manor, Yuuki was lost in thought as Kaname was feeding her information on what was going to happen on the opening day of the academy. She reflected her encounter with Zero and wondered why he disliked vampires so much. Were all humans like that? Is this what humans saw in vampires—cunning and ruthlessness?

"As a prefect, you won't be able to attend class that much, so you will have a separate time for your studies in which I'll assign you a tutor."

"Yes," she answered absentmindedly. She was thinking how there must be a reason why Zero's behavior was so sour and bitter, especially towards her. Did he have a bad experience with vampires? There must be a way to convince him that not all vampires were sinister…

"Since we won't be getting a formal introduction to the Day Class, it's expected that they will be hovering around the doors of our dorm before we are let into the academy." He rested his chin on his palm as he looked out of the car's window.

"Yes."

"Remember that from time to time, you will have to go outside of our dorm during that time and control the crowd if necessary."

"Yes."

"If all things go according to plan, then there should be no problems."

"Yes."

"Yuuki?" he called out, noticing that she had been using the same word for each response.

"Yes." She was still in deep thought of coming up with a plan to get to know Zero better and change his perception towards vampires.

"Let's get married tomorrow." He decided to test her if she was listening to him.

"Yes…" The word left her mouth automatically and it took her a few seconds to catch on what he had said. "Wait, what?" She stared at him in almost disbelief, hoping that he wasn't being serious as she wasn't ready for that kind of commitment. Indeed, she loved him with all her heart and marked him as her lover … especially ever since she was little she wanted to be his wife…but they just started their relationship as lovers and she didn't want to rush things as they should take their time on building their relationship to make it stronger.

"You're not paying attention to me, Yuuki. Am I boring you?" he asked with a tint of sadness attached to his tone of voice.

"Oh, no! No! Of course not, Onii-Kaname, never." She shook her head from left to right. "I was just thinking about something…"

"Then tell me, what is troubling you?"

"It's Zero, I don't understand why he hates us so much…"

"Ah, the vampire hunter, I see…do you remember Hiou Shizuka?"

"The madly blooming princess?" She had a sense where this was going because he had told her about it in the past. "The pureblood who lived in a cage and humans were bought to her as sacrifices?"

"Yes, her, she fell in love with a mortal man and turned him into a vampire. Apparently there were some misunderstandings that got the man onto the vampire hunter's list of extermination and the vampire hunters sent were the Kiryuu family," he explained. "So then Shizuka sought revenge for her lover and killed Zero's parents. She'd even bit him…"

Yuuki found her eyes widening by a fraction of centimeter as she said, "He's a Level E vampire?" She then felt useless that she couldn't identify it. "But…but he's a vampire hunter. Isn't that kind of contradicting?"

"Subsequent to that incident, Chairman Cross took him in and raised him as his own son."

"…Does that mean Chairman Cross is a vampire hunter as well?"

"He used to be, not very active now, he claims that he has retired," Kaname replied.

"Ohh." Was all Yuuki could say. Like a puzzle that was slowly being put in place together, Yuuki began to understand Zero's pain of losing his parents. She could imagine that as a child, he must have been very lonely—even though he had Kaien to look after him, it was only one person. Yuuki suddenly felt fortunate to have the Aidou family and her friends by her side as she grew up.

"Here we are," Kaname abruptly said as the car came to complete stop. He opened the car's door and got out. He then held the door for her as he smiled. "Welcome home, Yuuki."

"Home…?" She repeated after him as she thought they were going back to the Aidou's estate. Her confusion was immediately wiped away when she saw the familiar mansion before her, she stepped out and felt mixed emotions. It was the home that she was born in.

Nostalgia swooned in her as looking at the mansion gave her so many memories. To her surprise, the mansion looked the same as it did in the last decade. Someone must have been keeping the exterior of the mansion clean and majestic looking as the trees and grass were trimmed—not a weed or withering flower was found in the field.

"I thought it would be nice that we could spend some time here at our home before we have to move to Cross Academy." Kaname gently took her hand and led her into the mansion. "It has been quite while since we last have been here, isn't it?"

"Indeed it has, home sweet home." Yuuki smiled as she welcomed the familiar scent she once loved and still did.

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Turning the doorknob to her room slowly, Yuuki held her breath as she was afraid of breaking down to all the memories she would get from seeing her room. Wanting to be a child again, she wished that her parents would be in that room—with her mother trying her best to knit something for her family while her father sitting on his armchair and reading his favorite novel.

She opened the door and entered the room, observing while taking hesitant steps as if it was not her room at all. A smile spread across her face when she saw her toys neatly piled in the corner and her stick-figures drawings of their family taped on the wall. She couldn't resist the urge to lean down to pick one of her beloved dolls up. "You're still here, Renée." She brushed the doll's hair and said, "We used to have tea parties all the time when I was small with father." She then saw the tea stain on her doll's dress. "And he spilled tea on you, I remember I got so angry at him." She giggled as she thought how her father wanted to wash the doll for her but she was afraid he would ruin it even more.

"Yuuki, look what I've found." Kaname's voice snapped her back to reality as he held up a photo album at the doorway.

"Photo album? I never knew we have kept one," she replied, her curiosity rising. "What kind of photos are in there?"

"Come and you will see." He grinned and settled down on the sofa. He waited until she sat next to him.

The first photo they saw was a little girl smiling at the camera while her arms were hooked to two little boys who were also smiling next to her. The little girl had brown long curly hair that went to her waist and Yuuki gasped as she realized who this was, her mother. Both boys had dark brown hair and the only difference between them was one had curly hair while the other had straight hair.

"Was this mother and father when they were children?" The smile on her face got wider, almost as wide as the Cheshire's smile. "They were so adorable!" Kaname only nodded.

The next photo had a teenage version of the previous trio with Juuri and Haruka linking arms while lovingly staring at the camera, Rido was off at the side, looking very dissatisfied and unhappy.

"They were so happy back when they were children…" Yuuki mumbled to herself, staring at the picture, particularly at Rido. "What happened?"

"Father and mother fell in love."

"So did uncle with mother, but she…"

"Chose father."

"And that was when he started becoming mad," she said, wondering if she was feeling any sympathy for him when he was the one who killed her parents.

"You can't always win in the game of love."

"I know, love triangles are tragic. Luckily, it won't happen to us, right?" She leaned her head against his shoulder and turned the next page of the album.

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**Sneak Preview of **

**Chapter 13: Madly Haunted**

"Maybe I should leave," Yuuki said, noticing that Zero's lilac eyes were flashing dangerously red as they were indications warning her to leave if she did not want her blood sucked. She stood up from the bed and said, "You really should take your blood tablets." She then turned her heel and walked towards the door.

As she approached the door, she heard some footsteps behind her, but ignored them as she thought that he was either heeding to her advice or fighting against his urge for blood by striking pain to his body to distract himself. However as the footsteps got louder and she felt him advancing towards her, she turned her head to look behind her while grasping the doorknob with her right hand. At the end, she found what separated Zero and her were now simply a few centimeters of open air.

Yuuki stumbled back a little as she was not used to being so close with Zero. She tried to continue to scoot further away from him but when she heard her back hitting against the door; she knew that she couldn't physically elude anymore.

"Zero…?" she asked, there was a tint of nervousness hindered in her voice.

He didn't verbally answer as he was too drawn to her scent. He placed the palm of his hand against the door that was an inch or two away from Yuuki's ear. She began to feel uneasy as soon his other hand did the same and blocked her only escape route.

She looked into his eyes and no longer saw any hatred he held for her, but rather blood lust. She knew at that point that this was not the real Zero and the vampire side of him was taking over as he leaned towards her, eying her neck as it was his main target.

His fangs appeared as they were begging him to suck her blood as they never experienced the sensation of tasting blood—after all; she was a pureblood, so the quality of the blood must be excellent and the purest of all kind—hence the name of her rank.

"Zero," this time she said it more sternly. She didn't like where this was going and tried to warn him, "Listen, you don't want to do this. Think of all the consequences if you do."

He continued to ignore her as all he wanted at the moment was blood. He got closer to her and his tongue soon found a spot on her neck that it liked.

"Zero!" she cried out, shocked that he had the nerve to lick her neck. She then knew what to do; there was no turning back as he was looming over her. He was going to bite her neck shortly and she was left with no other choice, so she closed her eyes and tightened her fists…

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**Authoress' Note: **Another cliffhanger. So do you readers think that Zero will have the chance to taste Yuuki's blood? Maybe a drop or two? Or will Kaname come to Yuuki's rescue this time? Surely, Zero would be in heaps of trouble if he did take Yuuki's blood…

Anyways, today is my birthday, so I'm off now to celebrate! I hope you readers enjoyed the many fluffs in this chapter (I'm not sure will I have more in the future) as I had tons of fun writing them. So who thought that Hanabusa really drank Ruka's blood? What about Kaname falling out of the bed and Yuuki kicking him out afterwards? I thought those scenes were hilarious.

So, as usual, comments and constructive criticism are warmly welcomed. It would be super awesome if you readers can leave some feedbacks/reviews—those can be considered my birthday presents, right :)? Ha-ha.

April 5, 2011 - My birthday^^.


	13. Madly Haunted

Good morning/afternoon/evening (depending on the time zone you are in)!

Firstly, thank you so much for all the kind reviews! I hope I was able to reply to everyone's review (sorry if I missed you!). I really enjoyed reading them~!

Secondly, I do want to apologize for taking such a long time with this chapter—I had been quite busy as after my spring classes ended, I had to remove my wisdom teeth (all 4 in 1 go!). Then, I had summer classes and internship—it was so difficult to balance time between those two (their schedules were back-to-back, it was plain horrible), so I rarely had time for writing and my well of inspiration ran dry—but luckily, with all you readers' supportive reviews, I managed to get bits and bits of this chapter done. So here is it! I hope you readers will enjoy this—though I must warn you that this chapter is a bit dark...but to balance that out, I got one hot scene (do I dare say 'incest-themed'?).

Thirdly, I would like to thank kawaii hime-sama for helping me with this chapter! I don't know what I would do without you!

And thumbs up if you can recognize a particular (descriptive) scene that was part of the anime.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.

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**Chapter 13: Madly Haunted**

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_Smiling down at the tea set and plate of cookies she had made laying on the tray, Yuuki exited the kitchen to find her lover and food taster. "Oniisama has been working in his study room for the entire day, he must be tired, hopefully this little snack will cheer him up," she said enthusiastically. She smiled again and was excited to see his reaction when he tastes the cookies and tea she had made. She had spent quite a long time to make them, she wanted to make sure that the tea was brewed just right while the cookies were crispy enough._

_She carefully balanced the tray in her hands while she ascended the long staircase that led to the second floor of their house where the bedrooms and study rooms were. She stopped abruptly when her sensitive vampire ears picked up a conversation that was going upstairs—it was a lady's voice saying, "Kuran-sama, my heart belongs to you." Yuuki felt a bit anxious and tried to put an identity to that voice but could not as it did not sound like Seiren's voice. Who could it be? The only people in the Kuran household were only Kaname, Seiren, and herself. _

"_My body belongs to you…and I belong to you," the lady's seductive voice continued and Yuuki wished it would stop already. She had heard too much than she already needed to. She didn't know what was going on and hesitated on drawing conclusions from those statements. Surely there must be another explanation other than the lady loved Kaname to say such a thing? She could be simply declaring her loyalty to him as she might just have got an assignment or task to perform for him. _

"_Oniisama, let's become one." _

_Yuuki's confusion and anxiousness did not cease as she heard what the lady had said. How dare had she called Kaname "oniisama"! No one should call him by that name except her, she thought. But wait, why did that lady call him by that title? It would be impossible if she was his sister as well…unless Juuri and Haruka had another child that Yuuki didn't know about._

_Yuuki gripped the handles of her tray tightly, she was beginning to lose her temper and the rising fear that she would lose to that lady as Kaname still have not replied. So slowly, Yuuki gained back her confidence as she thought she was determined to get the bottom of this. She had to march into that room and see for herself on what was going on._

_Her legs almost _gave way _when she heard the lady moaning in pleasure and saying that he could take all the blood he needed. "Stay strong," Yuuki told herself, not wanting to give up on her investigation. She had to be brave and go into that study room. Gulping, she resumed her progress of climbing the staircase. _

_As the tip of her ballet flats met the door to Kaname's study room, she found her palms sweaty when she placed it against the cool dark mahogany wood. The door moved slightly as it was unlocked, allowing her to peek in, but not enough to get a full view of the scene, so she had to add more strength to her right hand to open the door._

_Inside the room was dark as the night was no longer young and the moon was high in the sky, shining its majestic light as a moon goddess reigned on her throne. Her eyes roamed her surrounding as she observed that nothing was out of the ordinarily until they landed on the velvet chaise longue that was in the corner. There, sitting comfortably on the longue was a male vampire, who Yuuki could recognize his unforgettable dark brown hair anywhere, sinking his fangs into a female vampire's neck. The female vampire was also strangely familiar looking as she had medium-length curly chocolate-colored hair, but Yuuki was not bothered by it, nor was she bothered by the way 'Kaname' had his hands tightly wrapped around her body, or how short her skimpy black dress was. In fact, Yuuki was most disturbed that 'Kaname' was drinking another female vampire's blood._

_What was going on? Was her blood not good enough for him? _

_Baffled by the sight, Yuuki parted her lips to call out his name but had jammed them close when 'Kaname' had finished his drinking and let the vampire lady fell from his lap to the ground ruthlessly. Yuuki then got a bit curious to see her face, but when she tried to catch a glimpse, she couldn't as the lady's face was hidden by her tumbling hair. Yuuki stayed where she was and observed 'Kaname', who was wiping the excess blood on his lips with the back of his hand. _

_With his eyes closed, 'Kaname' grinned at Yuuki and made a gesture that she should go over to him by spreading his long arms to her. Still shocked from what happened, Yuuki shook her head from left to right and took a step back. _

"_What's the matter? Don't you want some love?" _

_Yuuki nearly lost her grip of her tray when she instantly recognized that voice, it did not belong to Kaname, it had belonged to none other than the man that she had detested. "Ri…Ri…Rido?" she stuttered. She was in disbelief that she had mistaken Kaname, her kind and loving brother, for him, her selfish and vile uncle, but she could have sworn that the person across from her was Kaname at first…but then he, no, everything changed when he flashed his infamous mismatching eyes at her. _

"_You always did say my name in such an adorable way," Rido remarked, approaching her. "Long time no see." He took a piece of cookie from her plate and munched a few bites before spitting them out, "Even though you are cute and desirable in every way, I have to say, your baking skills still aren't that great." He then poured himself a cup of tea and sipped on it, "And the same goes for your tea-brewing skills, I guess we will have to work on that later, won't we?"_

_He then began circling around her as a shark would, intimidating its prey. "My, oh, my. You certainty have grown more beautiful as each day pass by, no?" He walked behind her and placed both his hands on her shoulder. "You are beginning to look like Juuri so much," he whispered into ear before sliding his hands down to her waist. At this point, Yuuki felt too horrified to struggle against him, let alone moving a muscle to talk. "Come, have a seat." He then made her drop her tray and ushered her to the chaise. "Don't be shy, I won't bite." He smirked and forced her to sit down with him. "Well, I lied, but when I bite, I promise I'll gentle and not be like my inconsiderate nephew, Kaname." He lifted a finger and caressed her pale neck. "He took too much blood last time, didn't he?" Her eyes widened a bit. "And, yes, I've been watching over you."_

"_W-what do y-y-ou want?" her voice came out quavering which aroused him as he enjoyed seeing her in such a susceptible state. So he got closer to her and said, "You thought I was gone, didn't you?" Yuuki made no response. "But not to worry, love, I'll be back soon. So don't miss me too much, alright?" He evilly smiled and leaned towards her, making her scoot over to the far end of the chaise. His body followed her body's movements and soon Yuuki was gripping the edge of the chair as he was hovering over her. "And this is the beginning of the many sweet dreams I'll show you every night," he said, his hand creeping up her thigh under her dress, making the hair on the back of her neck shoot up . "You will be mine, Yuuki, and I'll stop at nothing to get you." _

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Yuuki immediately opened her eyes and found herself, panting heavily for air. She sat up from her bed and started to shake uncontrollably, shoulders trembling. Was that a dream? _It felt so real though_, Yuuki thought. She then found it hard to breathe and felt incredibly dizzy, as if something hard was pounding against her skull while her throat was burning hot. Her hair and slip dress were dampened by sweat, clumping and sticking to her skin as if they became a second layer of skin.

"Yuuki…?" Kaname, who was sleeping next to her, called out and extended his hand to comfort her.

Yuuki flinched and screamed at his touch as it reminded her of how Rido's hand was crawling on her skin in her dream. "Get away from me!" she cried, getting out of the bed. Bewildered, she ran to the window, nervously clinging on to the curtain as if it was her lifeline, and stared at the person who had just touched her. The person that she knew the longest in her life and recognized as her lover—was now a complete stranger to her. Her mind was telling her that it was her brother and that she shouldn't be afraid, but her instincts told her that she should run from this person who resembled Rido so much.

Kaname stared back at Yuuki, equally confused and lost on what caused her to be in such a strange behavior. Earlier that night, she seemed so happy when they were playing chess—with him letting her win as she had complained that it wasn't 'fair'—, semi-burning their dinner because she wanted to cook, and reading so many books that she fell asleep on his lap. So now, seeing her as a panicky little mouse that was very sensitive, he knew that something was wrong and his instincts told him that it was related to Rido. Catching the fear that was swirling in her eyes, he confirmed that it must be Rido.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he quickly threw their bed cover aside to free his legs and walked over to her as he was alert to her frightened aura—but he was not quick enough as she fled out of his room the moment that his feet touched the ground.

Sprinting down corridor after corridor, the doors that she knew so well for the past few days were blurring as she couldn't make out the shape or outline of them anymore. Her vision was getting hazy and distorted as fear was furiously running hot in her veins. She didn't know where she was going or where she should go. She just wanted what she was experiencing to stop, it felt sickening and horrible as if someone threw her into a windowless room that was diminishing its size as each minute passes to the point where she would be a huddling in a fetal position, terrified and stressed.

She thought of going into her room as it was a safe haven, the place that her parents had successfully protected her for a number of years, but then decided against that notion as she wanted to be out of the suffocating house that contained many good and bad memories.

She needed to get out of the house.

Reaching to the first floor of manor, she flung open almost every door she saw, hoping to find a door that would lead her to outside. It took her a while to find the door that led to the garden and she slammed the door shut after she got out.

Her knees fell down roughly onto the cooling cemented floor. While hanging her head low with her palms pressing down against the chilly floor, she inhaled greedily for fresh air; her lung welcomed it and loosened its narrowness of the airway. The sudden gasps for air between those large inhales and exhales slowly died down.

Feeling a little wetness on her exposed shoulders, legs, and arms, Yuuki looked up towards the dark sky to find tiny snowflakes gently falling everywhere around her. "Snow," she said, holding up one of her hands to catch some of them, "I have always liked you." Her voice trailed off as she watched the tiny snowflake melt into her hand, thinking how something that was so beautiful and delicate could vanish in a matter of seconds, returning to its original state of water. She always admired snowflakes, as from far away, they looked very plain like extremely small snowballs, but when you looked at them closely, the details of one snowflake was truly magnificent with its complex patterns, they were a breathless sight as nature must had took its time in creating these little non-living creatures. "But, you always give me bad memories...of that night." A flash of the color red splattered her vision for a few moments, feigning the appearance of the sky bleeding instead of snowing. She immediately shut her eyes to prevent the memories from playing in her mind's eye.

"Yuuki," Kaname called out again, he had been standing there for some time and was waiting for her to acknowledge him. He knew that she knew he was there by her side as she could feel his presence and if she was still scared, then she would have run away.

"It was him," Yuuki said solemnly, "I dreamt about him…it has been many years since I last dreamt about him. I thought I had got rid of those nightmares, but I guess not." She balled up her fists and dug her nails into her palms; few strays of blood trickled down her hands and stained the lovely white snow beneath her. "I dreamt that he was in our house, he was waiting for me in your office." She paused to debate on whether or not she should tell him more details as she did knew that if she did, then she would be reliving the dream. Also, it was too disturbing to be told, so she decided to skip those parts and continued: "He said that he was coming after me and he would stop at nothing to get me…but that would be impossible because he's dead, right?" She finally turned her head to look at the standing figure next to her. She needed to be reassure that the night that she last saw him was the night of his death because that was what she had been thinking for the past decade and it made sense—after Rido's malicious laughter died down and Kaname had let go of her, she no longer felt or saw Rido's presence. Ever since then, he hadn't physically entered her life.

And so, she was confident that he won't reappear until now.

"He won't be bothering us any longer," Kaname had chosen his words carefully and knelt down with one knee. "He's gone." _For now_, he had left out. "I had taken care of him that night." _But it was only for temporarily,_ he had also left out. "Yuuki, it was just a dream." He pulled her towards him for a hug. "It was not real, it was an illusion. Maybe you're tensed up about going to the Academy. Remember the time when you were nervous about seeing your guardians?" She nodded her head and he continued, "Two nights before we visited them, you dreamt about how they treated you as a servant and made you do a lot of cleaning and other bizarre tasks—even though you knew that it would be impossible because you're of a higher rank than them." Sometimes he wondered if it was a good idea to keep reading fairytale stories to her before she slept.

"Yes, but…" She wanted to argue that this was the worst nightmare she had ever had and was completely different than those dreams she had in the past when she was nervous about something, but instead she sighed because maybe…he was right. "I-I don't know," she said uncertainty.

"Don't worry about it," he comforted her, "I will always be by your side to protect you." He tightened his embrace and felt her body slowly losing its heat. He kissed the top of her head and said, "It's cold out here, we should go back inside, hm?" Instead of nodding her head, her arms found its way around his neck while her legs wrapped around his torso, signaling that she wanted to be carried.

After placing one arm around her shoulder, Kaname placed his other arm under her thigh to make sure she didn't fall when he stood up—which he noticed that her body twitched a little and her hands clutched his coat while mumbling: "It's not him…"

As he carried her back to bed, he knew that he shouldn't have lied about Rido's death…but he felt that she wasn't ready to know the truth. If a nightmare about Rido could cause her to be in such an unstable emotional state, then telling her that he was alive would make matters worse. And he wasn't _exactly_ lying about the part where he would protect her at all costs.

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The next day, the young couple returned to the Aidou manor as Kaname thought it might have been their house that triggered Yuuki's nightmares.

Ever since that nightmare, Yuuki had been extremely quiet and a dazed expression would dawn on her face. She had isolated herself from others—including Kaname, she began to drift away from him as she had conflicting yearnings of wanting and not wanting to be with him because her mind had constantly been playing tricks on her, hallucinating that he was Rido.

The other night, when Yuuki passed by a room that Kaname was in, she lingered at the doorway, being indecisive on whether or not she should approach him because she felt bad that she had been neglecting him. His gaze then met her gaze and he smiled at her. It took a while for Yuuki to smile back and then as her legs moved towards him, her mind would deceive her by showing an image of Rido's face, making her believe that Kaname was Rido in disguise. At the end, she quickly left the room and confined herself in her bedroom.

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Sinking both heels into the floor and letting gravity pull her down, Yuuki had bent both her legs into a deep plié in front of the mirrors in the music room.

She then fixed her gaze at a spot in the mirror while concentrating on holding her body in a tight position with one arm reaching out to the mirror and the other arm was perpendicular to it.

In a swift movement, she brought her back foot up to her front leg and sprung up into retiré position to begin her pirouette. She fixed her eyes at the spot as long as she could and whipped her head around when she made a turn and focused on it again.

Spinning and turning her body every few seconds, Yuuki was furiously pirouetting to keep her mind occupied from thinking about Rido. For the past consecutive nights, Rido had been giving her sweet dreams and she would wake up with the feeling of fear burdened on her shoulders. She was angered by this as Rido kept bothering in her dreams, making her restless and sleep-deprived. She didn't want to submit to his bait of madness, but it was hard not to as she felt dominated by fear.

No matter what she did to keep him out of her mind, he would always manage to find a way to gain entrance through the interactions she had with other people.

The only way that she could prevent her paranoia from going out of control was evading sleep as much as she could, limiting Rido's access to her dream realm. She didn't tell Kaname of this as she didn't want to trouble him with her nightmares but she figured that he would or already did find out as she rarely stayed in her bedroom during mornings.

_Spot. Spot. Spot._

Those were the words that were running through her mind and she mentally felt better as no thoughts of Rido had intruded, but then it quickly disappeared as she visualized Rido's face in the mirror, causing her to lose balance and almost fall to the ground if it weren't for her quick reflexes.

Her arms were extended to the air, wanting to hold on to something as she did not want to sink into madness, while her legs were slightly bended into a plié position. She had let out a breath of relief as she slowly moved her gaze to the mirror in front of it.

She stared at her own reflection; the girl with her hair tied up to a loose bun that had lots of hair strands dangling everywhere because of the constant whirling she did and the pink tank top along with the white dress that reached to her knees were sticking to her skinny body frame that once suffered from malnutrition and now voluntarily insomnia—in other words, she looked weak and pale, so much different than the night of her soiree.

She couldn't stand looking at herself in such a state and averted her eyes as her muscles began to feel fatigue and tired from all the physical work she had been doing for the past couple of days. Then a wave of exhaustion washed over her, she suddenly have the urge to let go the strength that she was holding to maintain her posture. She wanted to let go and let her body rest even if it meant falling to the ground ungracefully—she knew that she couldn't keep this going any longer.

Just as she closed her eyes and leaned forward to let gravity pull her down, a pair of arms cushioned her fall and saved her from face-planting on the cold, hard floor.

"Reckless as always," her savior said, annoyingly but concern was detected as well.

Her eyes opened to meet and bore into a pair of aqua colored eyes. "Hanabusa," she said, too weary to add surprise to her tone.

"Why did you let yourself go like that?" he asked, confused of her habit of torturing herself whenever she encountered an obstacle in her life.

"You were watching me…?" This time, surprise and shock, were not conceded in her voice.

"Yes," he answered, his cheeks burning a bit as he felt like a stalker. The truth was that he wanted to play a new musical score on the piano, but when he saw Yuuki dancing in the room, he noticed that something was wrong as she kept pirouetting faster and faster. Even though he did not have much knowledge on how one should practice for ballet, he saw that her practicing was somewhat strange with her body carrying out the movements in such a rigid and harsh manner. "You're changing the subject by the way, so why did you do it?"

"I don't know," she said in frustration. "I don't understand anymore…" She paused to search for the right words but her cluttered brain couldn't produce those right words into comprehensive sentences, so instead, her tongue formed the following words: "Can't. Escape."

"Escape from…?"

"Him, I see him every night." She stiffened her fists and pressed them against her temple. "He won't leave me alone."

"Who?" he asked, eager to know who was responsible to inflict such pain to her. He was ready to hunt down this person to have a talk with him—even if it was Kaname, he would summon his courage and confront him about the problem.

"He wants me…," she continued to speak her thoughts out.

"Wait…is this Kaname?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her; doubt was clear on his face.

Yuuki stared at him and blinked a couple of times. She didn't notice that she was ranting on her thoughts to him. "No…it's not him, I love Kaname…I've always have, so there should be no reason that I'm afraid of him, right?" Yet she had the strangest feeling that he was hiding something from her. She then exhaled and shook her head before saying: "I just can't sleep."

"Why is that?"

"Because he's there! He's always in that room, waiting for me, luring me. It's awful as each time I feel like I have no control over my body. His finger would beckon to me and I would do anything that he wants me to do," she blurted out all in one breath. "…I would be walking towards him and kiss his hand…becoming his slave, letting him drink my blood." _And I would enjoy _it; she kept that thought to herself, too ashamed of having that sort of sentiment about Rido in her dreams. She averted her gaze but it was brief as she felt his index finger pressed against the center of her forehead.

"Hanabusa…what are you doing?"

"I have read somewhere that this is supposed to help you feel better, relax a little?"

"Well…" her voice trailed off, pondering if the awkwardness would exceed the strange soothing feeling she was getting. "I do feel a bit of…comfort."

"Anyways, you shouldn't worry too much about that nightmare—it is a figment of one's imagination," he stared at her, "the dream is over now."

"But Rido will come back in my dream, I just know it."

"Rido?" he asked, remembering that Rido did not leave a good impression in her mind. "He's dead…Yuuki." He paused. "Don't let fear control you. What I mean is, if he still pays unpleasant visits to your dreams, don't let him govern over you and since it is your dream after all, you are the controller of your own mind. So you have every right to banish him away." She tilted her head. "All you have to do is, look at him straight in the eyes and say 'I am not afraid of you'."

"Easier said than done." She heaved a sigh and leaned against him. "I feel so paralyzed whenever my eyes lay upon him."

"Still, you mustn't give in to him. He was the murderer of your parents; shouldn't you be angry with him?"

A flicker of hatred burned in her heart, Hanabusa was right, why should she be scared of the person who ended her parents' life? If it weren't for Rido, then her life would have been much different and better. "Yes," she said, the clouds of confusion were beginning to clear up in her mind. "I will do that tonight." She then smiled at him and joked, "Though it would be much easier if you were the one who say that to him for me."

Hanabusa smiled back and said, "Don't be so lazy." He then lightly knocked his hand on her head. "It's your own battle, Yuuki. You have to be the fighter in this. Though right now, you can rely on me…but in the future, I might not be by your side."

Yuuki nodded her head and sensed that their conversation was heading towards to discomfiture, so she decided to lighten the mood by teasing him. "Then I must tell my brother." She folded her arms. "That you have a lack of loyalty towards me. It lies at somewhere else? Something or someone more important than me?"

Aghast, his jaws almost dropped open as he couldn't believe that she was being serious. He didn't want to be misunderstood that he didn't want to be by her side forever. It was just that they had different paths in life, destinies; she was to become one of the future leaders in their world while he would be merely a servant in her eyes as he was a noble vampire. "Of course not!" he exclaimed, defending himself. "Never!"

She then let out a chuckle and said, "I was just kidding, Hanabusa. You don't have to be my side forever, if you did, then that would stand in the way of accomplishing your goals. I understand and I want to see you achieve them, succeed with flying colors." She stared up at him, wanting to touch his face but changed her mind when she thought that small friendly gesture would be misinterpreted as something else because of his feelings for her. Instead, she smiled again.

Hanabusa stared back, not knowing how to response, but he felt touched that she wanted to see him succeed and cared about his well-being. He then felt a blush creeping onto his cheeks but luckily, Yuuki didn't notice it as she was trying to suppress a yawn of tiredness. "You should rest, go back to bed," he said, "it's time for that battle of yours."

Placing her hand over her mouth, she nodded and he attempted to stand up while supporting her. He only managed to lift her a little but then fell himself pulled down as her body was not cooperating with his. "Yuuki?" he called out.

"My legs hurt…" She looked away in slight embarrassment as he had to see her in such a feeble state. Her hands then reached down to her feet and massaged them.

"Alright." He knew what to do and knelt down on the floor, his back facing her. "Climb on." Yuuki's eyebrows raised in surprise as this were the very first time he was offering her a piggyback ride.

"Umm…" As much as her legs wanted her to climb on with the little energy she had, her pureblood pride was in the way as she thought she could take care of herself. "It's okay, let me just rest for a bit and I'll be able to get back to my room."

"For how long? Dawn's approaching," he reasonably said. "Besides, if you don't, then I might be held responsible for not treating you well, my lack of loyalty for abandoning you in this room, by your dear brother. So, just climb aboard."

After pondering for some time, Yuuki nodded her head and got onto his back, her arms loosely securing his neck while her legs were drooping by his sides.

"Hm, I thought you were much lighter," he teased as he lifted her off the floor, hoping to gain some laughter from her.

"Hm, and I thought you were good at complimenting others, but I guess not." Weariness soon began to overwhelm her as she rested her head on his back. "It's never wise to say that to a pureblood, let alone to a female. You should be glad that I'm too tired to hit you right now."

"Then my life has been spared."

"Yes, my knight…" She had let out another yawn.

"Knight? Don't you mean Takuma?"

"No, you. Certainly, a girl can never have too many knights. That's what Oniisama said…"

"True," he agreed, head nodding slightly. Then an acrid smile spread across his face. "But there can be only one prince."

Yuuki didn't respond as her body finally succumbed to sleep.

**.**

* * *

**.**

Another week had gone by, strangely and possibly magically, after Yuuki discussed her fear with Hanabusa and heeded to his advices, all of her dreams had been peaceful and Rido-free. It was quite amazing as she never thought that simply telling herself that she was going to have a good dream right before she went to bed and telling Rido that she wasn't afraid of him in the dream—would actually work. Maybe she was too blinded by fear that she had submitted to those fears and let them control her, disregarding the thought that she was in control of her own mind.

When she confronted Rido in her dream, it was difficult as he kept taunting her, but once she pushed him away from her and shouted to him that she wanted him to vanish, he looked shocked and then, the familiar scenario of light emitting from his body occurred as her mind decided to register that he was dead.

Now, Yuuki was poking her head into Kaname's room, ready to make-up for all of those lost times last week when she rejected him every time he tried to interact with her. She hoped that he wasn't thinking that she was neglecting him as she had to deal with a personal problem.

"Kaname," Yuuki timidly said.

Not hearing a response from him, she approached the bed to find her brother sleeping soundly. She sighed and softly said, "You're still asleep?" She frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "And you were the one who told me to wake up early today yet you're sleeping…" She then pondered hard how she could wake him up nicely.

"Kaname," she whispered, shaking his right arm lightly, "Wake up. You promised that you would be up when I'm up." She then pressed her lips together and purposefully said, "You're such a liar. I'm going to hate you forever." She waited to see if he would response to her that, but she got no answer. _Fine, two can play at that game_, she thought**.** She then randomly said, "Takuma asked me out the other day."

Still no response.

"I kissed Hanabusa yesterday," she lied, hoping he might respond as she had made observations whenever she was Hanabusa, he didn't like it and seemed jealous.

His right eyebrow twitched slightly but there was still no verbal response.

"Kaname!" she said a little louder, perturbed that he was ignoring her—she then wondered if he was doing it on purpose to get even with her—which was not helping the guilt that she felt when she ignored then slapped his arm, "…You're so mean."

Kaname then rubbed his arm that she had hit—which caused her to experience a small irritation. Annoyed, she climbed on the bed and got on top of him. She poked his cheek with her index finger and said, "Wake up." She repeatedly poked him, in hopes that he would say or do something. "Come on." She then got bored and leaned down, watching him as he slept. "I know you're not a heavy-sleeper." She continued to use her forefinger to trace his features on his face.

"Wake up," she said again, sliding her finger from his forehead to the tip of his nose. She then lightly tapped his nose. "You're ignoring me, aren't you?" She stopped tracing his features and exhaled. "You know I won't give up until you're up." She soon found herself admiring his physical traits as she thought how majestic he looked even when he was sleeping. "You leave me no choice," she warned him.

Pouting, she placed both of her hands on his face and used her index fingers along with her thumbs to tug his cheeks—she was pinching his cheeks. "Wake up." Her pout only lasted a couple of seconds as he half-lifted his eyelids to look at her.

"Yes, Yuuki?" he asked, sounding and looking a tad funny as the mighty pureblood couldn't enunciate properly.

His response had earned an uncontrollable laughter from Yuuki. She retrieved her hands and found herself rolled off to the edge of the bed, but it was only for a while before she resumed the position of sitting on him, not knowing what enticements it was suggesting. "Hi," she gleefully said.

"Hi," he greeted back, clearly amused by her fawning over him formerly. The affection she had in her actions demonstrated that she was back to her happy old self—which he was proud as she conquered her fear by herself.

"It's about time that you are up!" Her pout returned.

"Yuuki, you do know that it's only morning right now?" he asked, raking a hand through his bed-hair.

"Of course and today is the day that we will be moving to Cross Academy," she reminded him.

"And that isn't until five in the afternoon," he finished the sentence for her.

"But, we still have a lot of arrangements to do such as packing."

"You already did that yesterday," he paused to point a finger at the suitcases neatly sitting at the corner of his room. "You had even packed for me and triple-checked that long list you made."

"Oh, did I?" She placed a finger on her chin, mulling over if she really did triple-check everything last night.

"Yes, and you wanted to quadruple-check too…" He sat up a little to get a better look at his younger sister, who had exchanged her genteel appearance for a typical schoolgirl look. She had tied up her long hair that he adored into a high ponytail with a red ribbon holding it in place. She was wearing a low v-shaped black sleeved sweater that covered her arms with the ruffles and collar of a white blouse sticking out and covering the exposed area of her neck. Her red plaid skirt was spilling over his chest while her legs—that were modestly concealed by inky tights—were imprisoning his body to go anywhere else.

He had also noticed the butterfly necklace that was skillfully garnished with pink jewels was hanging around her neck. He had to admit that the necklace was considered to be pretty and unique, but he was not fond of it as it was given by William—though Yuuki had said that it was from Madeleine as well. He understood that she was wearing it to show a sign that she appreciated the valuable gift, but seeing her wear it frequently made it arduous to tame his green-eyed monster of jealousy. He then concluded that he should get her a new and possibly prettier necklace that he would ask her to wear every day.

"But, you told me to get up early today," she stubbornly argued.

"Yes, but I meant around noon or so. Are you not tired?" He reclined against his bed, feeling bliss when his head landed on the cozy pillow, his body longed for the lost-sleep he had been accumulating for the past few nights because of the last minute adjustments and preparations for the Academy.

Her shoulders sulked seeing that he wasn't going to get out of the bed and all of her efforts were going to waste. "Nope," she said.

"Hm, there are still a couple of hours until we leave here, so maybe you should go back to sleep? Time tends to fly faster when you're sleeping," he suggested, closing his eyes.

She then did something that he would not expect to do willingly due to her shyness as she leaned down to deliver a sweet kiss on his lips. Feeling the sudden lushness of her lips brushed over his, he regained his vision and gawked at her. It had been a while since they were this close together and he welcomed her rosy scent that constantly lingered on her body to mix with his scent. When her soft lips departed from his, he already missed the feeling of her mouth on his and naturally leaned up towards her.

"Get up," she quietly told him; wondering how many times did she abuse those words today.

Although he found himself to be in quite a daze, he was curious to see her new confidence of being initiative in kissing, so he said, "Do it again."

"Greedy much?" she teased, secretly delighted that she was capable of being somewhat seductive with her kiss. "I will do it again _if_ you get out of bed."

"Or…." He paused to let a mischievous smile adorn on his face. "I can do this." He placed his hand onto her back and gently pushed her down towards him. Her hands noiselessly crushed against his chest, feeling the pounding of his heart and the heat of his body.

His eyes gazed into hers as he found them more attractive than usual; it allure him as he could see his mirrored-self in the reflection of those gorgeous orbs. She stared back at him, occasionally letting her gaze fall down to his lips, having the same craving as he was. Slowly, tilting his head to the left, he closed the remaining distance between them by pressings his lips against hers. A shaky breath escaped from her as he pulled away slightly and dived in to kiss her lower lip.

The rhythm of their kissing picked up its pace as she responded by kissing his upper lip and they began to take turns alternating their positions. The recognizable feeling of what they experienced the other night tingled in their bodies as they couldn't get enough of each other, but their thirst for love wasn't going to be settled by just blood today.

Her hands gripped onto his shoulders for better support while his free hand moved up to the back of her head, urging her forward to deepen the kiss. Temperature rising in both their bodies, they didn't know why they were experiencing it or what could cure the strong yearning, but their hands continued to move on their own accord—his hand moving up her back, causing her sweater to hitch upward, while her hand was tugging his shirt's collar. All logical and chastity thoughts were long left behind when the moment their lips crashed.

His instinct of dominance nudged him to roll his body over hers as it would be unfair if she was above him during the whole intimate session, and just as he was about to do that…

"Kaname-sama, I was wondering when will—oh."

_Not again._

Hanabusa couldn't continue his sentence as he took in the sight before him; two purebloods in the bed together were caught engaging in a fervent lip-lock. Not to mention with Yuuki being on top…who knew that girl could be the aggressive one?

Yuuki, without any delay, untangled herself from Kaname in embarrassment while Hanabusa closed his eyes, gave his usual bow, and said, "Err…I'm going to take my leave now. You guys can continue to do whatever you were doing…and just to let you know, I did knock before coming in!" He then strode towards the door, thinking how _lucky _he was that he always found the greatest time to bother the purebloods. _Maybe I should go and buy those lottery tickets that the humans speak of, _he thought.

Hoping to stop her cheeks from getting any rosier than usual, Yuuki bit her lower lip to release some of her nervousness but realized that was an awful choice as she felt that she could still taste him and remembered how _good_ the kiss felt. Curiosity soon got the better out of her as her mind wandered to the thought of how his tongue would taste—which immediately caused her cheeks to burn up. Abashed by these new lusty desires, she quickly turned her face away from him and reconnected her feet to the ground. "Wait, Hanabusa! Did you finish packing yet? I'll help you!" she exclaimed, running after the blond vampire.

"No, no! It's okay!"

"But, I insist!"

"Yuuki," Kaname suddenly said, knowing very well that she could perfectly hear him. He leaned back against the headboard.

In a matter of seconds, scampering footsteps were heard as the youngest Kuran came back in and without another word, forgetting her thoughts earlier, she gave one last kiss on his cheek. She then said, "I'll be back soon and you better be up when I'm back or I'll really get mad." She stepped away from his reach as she was prepared to avoid another 'kiss attack'.

He smiled as he watched her try to hide yet another blush—call him sadistic, but he enjoyed and liked seeing her blush as she was too adorable when she executed those emotions.

**.**

* * *

**.**

The process of moving into the Academy was much faster and easier than what Yuuki had expected. Her new environment was quite similar to the old one she temporarily had at the Aidous household with having one bedchamber all to herself and her two personal maids—Miki and Miku—accompanying her. She was hoping to have a roommate as she wanted to experience dormitory life but Kaname claimed it was better that way because of privacy and security. He also complied that he would come stay over for some nights to be her roommate—which thrilled her as that was what she wanted, to sleep in the same bed once again just like when they were children, but she felt a tug of nervousness as she thought how there could be a possibility that they would lose control of themselves again.

"The skirt is too short," Yuuki said to herself while giving a small tug at her new school uniform in hopes that the skirt would magically lengthen. She then gave up and sighed in defeat as she quickly checked her reflection for the umpteenth time in the mirror to make sure she looked presentable—in the back of her mind, she wondered was this habit due to the first day of the Academy or since she and Kaname had begun to date officially.

A tap at the door was heard and Yuuki turned her head to see a blonde girl with hazel eyes, she was one of the few noble vampires who was willing to give a chance to this Academy. Yuuki racked her brain for the name of that model student as she still had a little hard time remembering every student in the Night Class.

"Yuuki-sama? Sorry to bother you, but Kaname had sent me to ask if you were ready?" the girl inquired.

"Tell him I'll be down in a few minutes, thank you…Yealana?" Yuuki hoped that she got the name and pronunciation right. She was really amazed how the names of her classmates had a variation as they had come from all around the world.

"You're welcome." Yealana nodded her head.

"I'll see you later." Yuuki then smiled before facing the mirror again and muttered, "I guess this would have to do."

"Did you say something, Yuuki-sama?"

"It's nothing really…but since you asked. I'm not very used to wearing skirts this short…my legs feel a bit bare I guess you can say?" Yuuki felt a bit old fashion as those words left her mouth but she couldn't help it as she grew up wearing dresses that were appropriate for a lady—or in other words, dresses that reached to her knee level. "Would it be too weird to wear black tights?"

"Hm, what about black opaque thigh stockings? Like the pair I'm currently wearing." Yealana pointed to her stockings. "I see a lot of our other classmates wearing it. Rima and Ruka are wearing them as well."

"Oh, that's smart! Why didn't I think of it? As you can probably see, my fashion sense is not that great, if you take a peek at my closet, it's full of dresses that look like they're from the Victorian Era," Yuuki laughed. "But, anyways, thanks again!"

After Yuuki solved her little dilemma, she rushed out of the Moon dormitory to meet with the Night Class. As her foot left the dark dorm, her hand automatically shot up to shelter her eyes from the blazing sunlight. Darn, she had forgotten about her sunglasses and the small crowd in front of her did not serve justice to her eyes as everybody was wearing white spotless uniforms that had light reflecting off of them.

Squinting her eyes slightly, she searched for her beloved among her classmates. When she spotted him, she happily went to his side as he welcomed her by gracing a smile on his face.

"Just in time," Kaname commented.

"Good," Yuuki responded, smiling.

"Ready?"

_Of course and not scared at all because you're by my side_, she sent the message to him through telepathy. She then nodded her head as he laced his fingers through hers. She couldn't possibly imagine her life without him; she needed his guidance and support in this world of cruelness, where if she's not careful, then she would be taken advantage by other vampires. He was also her first friend, teacher—the one who taught her how to love and care about someone—and remaining family member.

_Purebloods should stick together._

Sara's words from the night of the soiree rang in Yuuki's mind. Yes, they should, but Yuuki wanted to add that purebloods _from the same clan_ should stick together.

Yuuki's thoughts were interrupted when the gated doors soon opened and a breeze of air lightly blew at her face. The very first thing that she noticed as she walked next to Kaname was the many Day Class students waiting, observing them from the entrance. Many whispers were circulating around them as the Night Class stepped out of their nocturnal sanctuary and into the lively world.

_They are so elegant._

_Enthralling._

_Flawless._

_Glamorous._

And the list would go on as the Day Class students thought all of the attractions that were apparent on their outward appearances. To them, the Night Class seemed to be people who were gifted with beauty at birth as they all had the physical attributes of what humans defined beautiful. But little did the humans know that inside one of those charming creatures resided a vigorous, hideous, and blood-thirsty beast. If the humans saw that side of them, then would they still be called 'beautiful'?

**.**

**.**

"This is silly, I shouldn't have accepted this." Yuuki stared down at the manila folder she was gripping in her right hand as she walked down the hallway to Zero's room. "I should have said I was busy or something, so stupid of me!" she said in frustration, regretting that she accepted Cross' request of passing on some documents to Zero. She didn't understand why Chairman Cross couldn't do it himself or asked Zero to come by his office, but she knew that if she didn't accept, then the chairman would have kept ranting on how he was too _busy _to do such a task and he wouldn't be able to make dinner in time, and etc.

At first, she thought it would be okay as the errand was small, but then as she thought about all the bad encounters she had with Zero, she was beginning to lose her patience with him. All of her attempts of establishing a good friendship with him were futile. Just earlier the day, she had went up to him, hoping to have a clean fresh start with him in terms of their relationship, but he had just scuffled, stuffed his hands into his pants' pockets, and walked away—completely ignoring her hand that was extended for a handshake. He had left her hanging, looking like an idiot.

"Who does he think he is?" she huffed. In the society where she was from, a long queue would be formed around the Aidou's manor just to shake hands with her—not that she was terribly fond of the crowded attention she always received. The nerve of that guy was astounding.

Her footsteps soon became small stomps as she made her way to his room. She knocked his room's door, hoping he was not in his room, so she could slip the folder through the door's crack, but the door was unlock as it made a faint creaking sound.

"Zero?" she said before entering the room. "Hey, I'm here to drop off a folder from…Chairman Cross." There was a mid-pause in her sentence as she took in the room that was extremely disoriented with high levels of entropy. Papers were scattered everywhere on the ground and the lamp on his desk was knocked down to the ground with its glass glistering in small sharp pieces. A chair was also tipped over along with other objects laying everything in the room. "Are you alright?" she asked, worry replaced the anger she felt earlier. She studied Zero, who was sitting on his bed, his shoulders hunching and his left hand was clawing at his chest.

"Leave," was the only word that he could muster after he inhaled a few deep breaths.

Rapidly, she perceived the symptoms he was having and realized that he was thirsty for blood. So she asked, "Are you taking your blood tablets?" Her eyes did a quick scan of the room to try to locate them. "Would you like some help?

"Leave!" this time he had shouted.

Feeling her presence was unwanted; she frowned and placed the folder at his side. "Fine, I'll leave," she said, noticing that Zero's lilac eyes were flashing dangerously, indicating warnings that she should leave if she did not want her blood sucked. She stood up from the bed and said, "You really should take your blood tablets." She then turned her heel and walked towards the door.

As she approached the door, she heard some footsteps behind her, but ignored them as she thought that he was either heeding to her advice or fighting against his urge for blood by striking pain to his body to distract himself. However as the footsteps got louder and she felt him advancing towards her, she turned her head to look behind her while grasping the doorknob with her right hand. At the end, she found what separated Zero and her were now simply a few centimeters of open air.

Yuuki stumbled back a little as she was not used to being so close with Zero. She tried to continue to scoot further away from him but when she heard her back hitting against the door; she knew that she couldn't physically elude anymore.

"Zero…?" she asked, there was a tint of nervousness hindered in her voice.

He didn't verbally answer as he was too drawn to her scent. He placed the palm of his hand against the door that was an inch or two away from Yuuki's ear. She began to feel uneasy as soon his other hand did the same and blocked her only escape route.

She looked into his eyes and no longer saw any hatred he held for her, but rather blood lust. She knew at that point that this was not the real Zero and the vampire side of him was taking over. He leaned towards her, eying her neck as it was his main target.

His fangs appeared and were begging him to suck her blood as they never experienced the sensation of tasting blood—after all; she was a pureblood, so the quality of the blood must be excellent and the purest of all kind—hence the name of her rank.

"Zero," this time she said it more sternly. She didn't like where this was going and tried to warn him, "Listen, you don't want to do this. Think of all the consequences if you do."

He continued to ignore her as all he wanted at that moment was blood. He got closer to her and his tongue soon found a spot on her neck that it liked.

"Zero!" she cried out, shocked that he was bold enough to lick her neck. She then knew what to do; there was no turning back as he was looming over her. He was going to bite her neck shortly and she was left with no other choice, so she closed her eyes and tightened her fists.

"Get off of me," she gave her final warning.

When Yuuki lifted her eyelids again, her eyes were glowing crimson red and a sudden invisible force threw Zero across the room, making him land inelegantly at the foot of his desk. Zero groaned a bit while Yuuki gave him a hard stare. A frown then marred her usual kind face as she disliked being violent, she would only resort to it when she felt her life was in danger. She believed that a problem could be solved peacefully through an agreement or truce.

Eyes slowly adjusting back to its original color, she turned around to resume her path to the door and just at the moment she was going to close the door behind her, she heard him mumble what seemed like a "thank you."

**.**

* * *

**.**

Dipping her hands into the cool water of the fountain, Yuuki disturbed the water's tranquility when she suddenly splashed the water harshly onto her face, but it did not help her forget what happened at first. She was upset that she had let Zero go that far. She didn't know him well; he was merely an acquaintance, so she should have been able to push him away when he had cornered her.

Yet she didn't. Why?

Was it because she wanted him to take her blood? But that would be nonsense, entirely absurd! She wanted nobody but Kaname. So why should she let him? Let alone, he was a level-E vampire, who was losing his sanity as each day passes… Was this pity?

"Tired from patrolling?"

"Oniisama," she automatically called upon hearing his voice. She turned to the side to see him smiling at her.

"Is there something troubling you?"

She stayed rooted to the ground, pondering should she tell him what just occurred. She did not want to bother him with her troubles or stir up this small problem into a huge mess. She knew that he could a _bit_ too over-protected. "Well…" She paused as she felt him approach her from behind, his arms encircling her waist—which made it difficult for her to lie that she was simply tired.

**.**

* * *

**Preview of Future Chapter** **(XX)**

"Yuuki, you knew that I didn't want you to go to this festival," the older Kuran reprimanded his sister, casting a sad glance at her as she had disobeyed his words.

"I'm sorry," was all the younger Kuran could muster. She hung her head low as she trailed behind him.

"And you went alone, without any companion."

"I'm sorry."

"You almost got injured too."

"I'm sorry."

"If it weren't for Takuma and Hanabusa-"

"Why do you always treat her like a child? She's old enough to take care of herself," the silver-haired vampire hunter interrupted, unable to comprehend why Kaname was fussing Yuuki over one small thing. "She's a vampire for Pete's sake, and we could have defeated those vampires without your help."

* * *

**Authoress' Note: **I know, I know, it's a bit of a cliffhanger, but this time, I haven't made up my mind on whether Yuuki should "lie" or not. What do you readers think? Yes or no? Do you think this (white) lie would be harmless? Or do you think she should not lie as honesty is extremely important in a relationship?

Anyways, I hope you had fun reading this chapter. Feedback would be superb and loved as I'm very interested in hearing what you thought of this chapter—creepy/funny in some parts/etc. Constructive criticism is also welcomed.

As for the next update, I'm not sure when would that be happening as I still have summer classes (summer session II) and internship—but I'm happy to say that my schedule is better now, so I should be able to spare some time each day to work on the next chapter .

August 1, 2011


	14. Forbidden Fruit

Today is the date that "My Devoir" was created, so happy anniversary^^! I'm a little sad that it's still incomplete, but I'll work harder this year to update as much as I can. Please bear with me.

I know I hadn't been very consistent with these updates, to be honest, this story is starting to get a little harder to write. Not to worry though, I'm determined to finish this story, I'll never abandon it. I also had been busy as a bee for the last couple of months, I couldn't believe that during my entire winter break, I had worked 40 hours a week at my internship. So you could imagine how exciting that was, I didn't get to go anywhere or do anything fun at all. Anyways, enough about me, I do hope you readers had a memorable Christmas and New Year :)!

As usual, I would like to express my gratitude towards the wonderful reviews I got. I'm very happy that this first story of mine had reached over 300 reviews, keep up the good work^^. Without them, I don't think there would be this update at all. So thank you, my lovely readers! And to the readers who I couldn't thank personally through PMs, you know who you are—frenchfan, Krazyme98, Cookie, Laras, callalily, VampireLuver23, YuMe—thank you! Merci~

Of course, now it's time for my regular shout-out of thanks to kawaii hime-sama, gracias for beta-ing in such a short notice!

Last note is that this chapter isn't that long as the previous ones and since today's its anniversary, there are more fluffs and supposedly funny moments. Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

******CHAPTER 14 – Forbidden Fruit**

******.**

******.**

"I…," Yuuki hesitated one last time to let her conscience battle on whether to tell the truth or not. Slowly, she turned her body to face him and rather giving him her poker face to conceal the truth from him, she wore an expression of weariness. "…am just really tired," she exhaled before hanging her head low to depict the stress she was feeling. "These past days, I haven't been getting enough sleep and the Day Class is beginning to be hard to control due to our dearest Hanabusa's popularity skyrocketing."

"And then Zero is not cooperating with you, I presume?" Kaname continued for her, caressing her cheek with his thumb lightly.

"Yes," she said. "It's quite irksome, I really don't understand him."

"Should I go talk to him?" he suggested, hoping that would help her.

"No, no," she had answered ___too_ fast.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I shouldn't always be relying on you, remember?" she reassured him. "Just give me some more time and I'll see how to deal with him—unless you think that I don't have the ability to handle this situation myself," she sadly said. Sometimes she felt that he doubted her capability of taking care of herself and other things. It was not like she didn't like being taken care of, but she didn't want to be treated like a child. It made her feel that she wasn't equal to him.

"It's not that I'm worried about." He was a tad surprise to hear that from her. "I'm more concerned about your well-being." He tucked some strands of her hair behind her ear. "If you don't want me to interfere, then I won't, but I just want you to know that I'll always be by your side, supporting you. So if you need a little help, then tell me."

******,**

******,**

Holding a parasol and wearing a pair of sunglasses, Yuuki shouted orders to control the rowdiness of the Day Class girls while attempting to stay cool and shaded from the sun. "Please stay behind the designated red lines that I had drawn for you!" she yelled over the girls and boys who were squealing in excitement to see the members of the Night Class.

When she saw that the girls were not listening, she scowled as this type of scenario had been occurring for the past couple of days. She didn't want to resort to her vampire powers to make the humans do what she wanted. She wanted to try to understand humans better through human actions.

As she was about to march over to the group of girls…

"Yuuki-san, why are you holding a parasol?" one of the male Day Class students asked.

"Idiot," another boy joined the conversation and nudged his fellow classmate, "she's photosensitive, remember? She had told that to us the other day." He then turned and smiled at Yuuki. "Would you like some help with the parasol? I can hold it for you."

"I can help you too, Yuuki-san!" the first guy suddenly said.

"Hey, I asked her first!"

Then the two boys started arguing and Yuuki had a sweat-dropping expression on her face. To make matters worse, the Day class girls began to ask her what hobbies and food the Night Class guys liked.

"Yuuki-san, do you know what Idol-senpai's favorite food is?"

"What about Takuma-senpai? I would like to make a bento box for him."

"And don't forget Kaname-senpai!"

The questions were endless, Yuuki soon found herself surrounded by the Day Class girls. For once, she felt outnumbered by the humans and it was a little intimidating. She never would have thought that she would be cornered by them. As she quickly tried to rack her mind to think of a way to get out of the solution, her savior came—but it was someone she had least expected.

"Everyone go back to your dorms!" Zero angrily shouted. "If you don't cooperate with me, then I'm more than happy to escort you to see Chairman Cross!"

And just like that, both the girls and guys listened; they looked like whimpering puppies that got scolded by their mother dog. They stopped yapping and started retrieving back to their dorms.

"Oy, I'm so tired of hearing their 'kya,kya,kya'. It's so annoying," Zero shook his head in a disapproving manner.

"You didn't have to be that mean…" Yuuki muttered, moving away from him.

"If I didn't, then they wouldn't leave. It's our job that we keep those annoying pests from your hungry classmates, who are no help at all by the way. You do remember that, don't you?" he placed his hands on his hips—irritating Yuuki. He made it seem that it was all the vampires' fault.

"And you do remember that you were supposed to be here, twenty minutes ago, controlling your fellow classmates, don't you?" she asked back. She then closed her parasol and purposefully hit him with it on his shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for?" he growled.

"For being late, Mister Prefect," she answered, averting her eyes. She was still uncomfortable of interacting with him since the bloodlust incident.

He glared at her and began to retort but the gates of the Night Dorm suddenly opened, cutting their argument short. Some students, from the Day Class weren't too far from them, secretly took advantage of the two prefects bickering and came scurrying back.

"Hi~!" Hanabusa said happily, waving his hand in a manner similar to a homecoming king greeting his fellow classmates. Akatsuki immediately stepped aside from him, not wanting to walk next to his overly-confident-about-his-looks cousin and be his homecoming queen.

Yuuki halted her scolding on Zero and gave her parasol a break from all the hitting it had to endure for the past few minutes. She then took it her surrounding, almost gaped at how all the Day class students were neatly queued behind the lines she drew for them.

"Good afternoon, my fair ladies! How are you all today?" Hanabusa continued his daily routine of greeting his fan girls.

As expected, his fan girls squealed in unison that they were doing well and asked how he was doing. The high pitch screaming made Yuuki wished for once that she did not have sensitive hearing.

"Idol-senpai, show us your signature move!" one of the girls shouted.

Yuuki quickly glanced at Akatsuki in hopes that he would do something to pull Hanabusa away, so she could maybe still control the crowd's rowdiness, but much to her dismay, his attention was elsewhere. Or well, on Ruka, go figures. Poor guy, when was he ever going to confess his feelings to her?

"Why, my pleasure." Hanabusa smiled, obviously liking all the attention he was getting. He held up his hand, extending his forefinger, and thumb. Winking, he vocalized his hand-mimic of a gun: "Bang! Bang!"

The girls encored their squeal of delight, cheering him.

As much as Yuuki liked her childhood friend, she wanted to smack Hanabusa with her parasol at that very moment. Now she felt like the bad guy if she had to interrupt the fans-and-star moment. Technically there was no harm for this little interaction between the Day and Night classes, but Yuuki didn't want to be a pushover. What would her people think of her if she couldn't control a small group of humans?

She put on her stern expression and threw a deadly glare at Hanabusa, signaling that he only had three to five minutes before he had to put an end to his reunion with his fans or he would suffer consequences from her or…Kaname.

Though Hanabusa remained calm and cheerful, he seemed to receive the message by declining another 'bang bang' request and promising he would do it again tomorrow.

"Attention whore," Zero mumbled under his breath.

Yuuki immediately stepped on his foot, being evident that she was displeased with his somewhat true comment. No matter what, Hanabusa was her best friend and she felt that she needed to defend him.

Impressively, Zero did not yelp and just turned his head towards her, challenging her to increase the pain. She bravely stared at him, creating the illusion that they were having an intense staring contest with electrical currents passing through each other eyes.

"Kaname-senpai, which type of chocolate do you prefer?" one Day Class girl inquired, obviously planning to make or get him chocolate on Valentine's Day. This caught Yuuki's attention.

___Dark chocolate._

Yuuki wanted to say that aloud, but decided not to avoid being kidnapped by the girls to hold a 'Kaname conference' where she would have to answer the infinite amount questions about his hobbies, lifestyle, preferences, and etc. She then drowned out their following conversation to let him have his privacy. Besides, she didn't want to hear all the fan-girling. It was enough that she had to see it almost every day. Was this jealously?

"I don't know what's so special about him," Zero continued his grumble.

"What, jealous that he's more popular than you?" Yuuki asked, folding her arms while observing how Kaname's fan base was slightly bigger than Hanabusa. "It cannot be helped, he is very caring, honest, protective, reliable, intelligent, righteous, inspiring, ambitious—"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Zero held up a hand in annoyance, cutting the beginning of her praises with a lifespan of possible days if she had to provide an example for each of the characteristic. "I perceive you're his biggest fan?"

Yuuki smiled to herself and answered, "I had been since I was small. He's my brother." And that was all she could reveal to him along to the Day Class students. She had decided that it was better that they shouldn't know their 'complicated relationship' because incest was frowned upon in the human society. She also didn't want to lie about her identity about being adopted or not sharing the same blood as Kaname. She was proud of her family heritage.

"Are you done? We're not that close, so get your foot off mine." Zero took one step away from her while Kaname strode towards them.

"You doing alright, Yuuki?" Kaname kindly asked, not even bothering to acknowledge Zero.

"Good afternoon, Onii-sama. Yes, I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking." Yuuki inclined her head to show respect to him—a habit that now only appeared in public than in private. When she saw how Kaname was reaching for one of her hands, she quickly hid them behind her back, hinting that they shouldn't show any display of public affection. It was a tad awkward for siblings to hold hands at their age.

However, Kaname was not going to give up on getting his daily affectionate greeting from her. So he moved his hand to her face, using his favorite tactic-tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Then he purposefully let his hand slide down her face, caressing in the process and causing Zero to turn away in disgust and began to rant at the Day Class students to retrieve.

,

,

"Come in," Kaname's voice was muffled over the door between them but Yuuki heard it clearly.

Forcing a smile across her face, she opened the door to his office and found her mate sitting behind his desk and scribbling away with his quill pen on a parchment. As usual, due to her prying nature, she wondered who he was writing to. The Ancient Council? She wanted to ask him, but shook that thought away when she remembered her mission of visiting.

"You busy?" she timidly asked. She knew it was a silly question to ask, but she didn't know what other ways she could use to strike a casual conversation with him. Although she wanted to know badly why he hadn't been visiting her or spending time with her, she didn't want to pounce on him and start interrogating on what he had been doing for the past couple of days.

He chuckled a little, causing her to relax as he didn't appear to be angry or upset with her. "A little," he answered, throwing her a quick glance. "Is there something I can assist you, Miss Prefect?" he teased.

"Not really, I was just curious what you were up to. I'm done with my patrolling."

"Uh-huh."

"So yeah…," she awkwardly said before finding a spot on his settee that was adjacent to his desk. "We don't spend that much time together as we used to," she randomly said.

Her words had an immediate effect on him because the scribbling soon halted. Was she implying that she felt she was being ignored for the past couple of days? Casting a long glance at her, he asked, "Is that how you feel?"

"Yes…," she admitted, a frown was pulled at the corner of her lips but she fought it, "…but it's alright!" She did a quick nod with her head. "I understand as we both have duties to fulfill. You as our class president while I'm just Miss Prefect." She then lay down on the settee, with her legs propped up on the armrest—an action that she knew surely Michiru would scold her, but luckily she wasn't around. "Anyways… Oniisama," she called out, missing her nickname for him. "Do you mind if I stay here for a while? I would like to rest and be near you… I promise I won't bother you."

"Of course you can," he couldn't help but smile at her such a childish request. "I'll wake you up when I'm done and we can either do something together or go to bed if you're still tired," he offered.

"Sounds good."

With that, Yuuki dosed off for a bit while Kaname resumed writing on the document. After an hour or so, she woke up to see that he was still navigating through his huge pile of paperwork.

She did an inaudible sigh, having a feeling that he would be staying up until morning to finish the paperwork. Not only that she was upset that she would have to go to bed without him, but she was also worried about him. He was constantly working. Though she knew that he probably could handle stress well, she still didn't want him to overwork himself.

Bored, she reached into her jacket's pocket to reach for the box of Pocky that Rima gave to her earlier. As quietly as possible, she tried to open the plastic bag, but failed as she saw that he was occasionally glimpsing at her each time she attempted to tear the bag.

"Would you like one?" she sheepishly asked, holding up the box. "If you like, you can just come and take one or more. Feel free, okay?"

She then popped one of the sticks into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she savored the chocolate in her mouth, hoping to distract her taste bud into not wanting blood. She soon felt his presence getting closer, but she did not bother to open her eyes, assuming that he would just grab one Pocky and leave. How wrong she was.

Feeling as if someone had bit on her Pocky and was playing a tug-o-war with her mouth, her eyes shot open to meet his dark eyes. His body was leaning towards her; his mouth was biting down on the biscuit stick that she was holding in her mouth.

Not giving her a chance to react, he continued to bite down the biscuit stick until his lips softly brushed against hers, causing her mouth to open and letting go of the tiny remaining bit of the snack. He had let out a smirk as he pulled back while a blush crept onto her face.

"Y-you know, you could have taken a new one from the box," she tried hard not to stutter.

"I know, but I wanted the one you were eating."

"What's the difference?" she frowned, clearly unhappy that he had stolen her Pocky stick.

"The one you have is sweeter," he smiled and went back to his work.

.

.

******The Next Night; Cross Academy's Yard**

Yuuki stopped dead in her tracks when her nose picked a trace of very faint but lovely blood in the air. How she craved and missed that substance, but she shook those thoughts away, blaming that it was time to take a few blood tablets. She rapidly heightened her senses to run an analysis of the situation when she determined that the blood belonged to a human.

She let out a sign of relief that Zero's presence was not within the vicinity, but she had detected Hanabusa's presence was nearby….

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad or dangerous. The scent belongs to that Day class girl over there," Hanabusa said, stepping out into the scene and pointing a finger to her right side. "And, just to let you know, I was an innocent bystander. I did nothing to her. If I did, I would have fled from here. You know how hard it's to get rid of the scent after the ___meal."_

Yuuki studied his facial expression and words carefully and after a few moments, she concluded that he was clean because she couldn't smell any blood or anybody's scent on him except his own lavender scent.

"Also, no hard feelings, I know you're just doing your job and you have the right to be suspicious since I'm near the possible scene of crime," he straightforwardly said. "That girl over there…I think she's looking for something she lost."

Yuuki then spotted a short-haired brunette, wearing a Day Class uniform, very far in the background, walking and bending down around the bushes.

"Probably something precious because she is breaking the curfew rule. As for the scent, it's most likely that she got cut by a branch or the brushes." He casually stuffed his hands into his pockets. "You should go help her, I'm going back to my room before Kaname finds me."

"You don't want to go assist her? I assume you would since you're such a lady's man lately ever since we set foot at this academy," Yuuki asked, indirectly hinting of his flirtatious behavior.

"Nah, I'll pass."

"Not your type?"

"Not really."

"Have you always been like this?" She wanted to know what the main drive of this behavior was since they were finally alone and could talk like they used to.

He only stared at her, waiting for clarification of what she wanted to ask him.

"You weren't like this before we moved here." She paused to think of all their fun times in their childhood. How she missed them. "Unless this is how you usually behave outside of the manor… Do you like all these attention?"

"It's nice," he commented, making it seem like he enjoyed it but then he shrugged his shoulders. "Though…it doesn't mean much to me if I do get all the girls' attention here." He turned around to head back to their dorm.

Yuuki thought he was going to end the conversation there, but then he abruptly said in a quiet tone:"Because I only want one girl's attention and I don't think I'll ever get it…" He tilted his head back, staring into the moon. "That's what Akatsuki said…and I quite agree with him."

Sorrow tugged at her heart when she heard it but she shouldn't waste any more time and check on the Day Class girl before a starving Night classmate pass by. She made her way to the Day Class student.

"Excuse me, it is way past curfew time for Day Class students," Yuuki said, standing in front of the girl.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry, Miss Prefect. I'll go back to my dorm quick, I just need to find something really quick," the girl shyly replied, bowing her head low.

"Is it really important?"

The girl stood up and sadly said, "It's a necklace that I got from my grandmother…she passed away few years ago…"

Yuuki then understood why the girl would take a risk to come outside this late at night to find that necklace. It was what she had left of her grandmother's and Yuuki couldn't imagine losing something that was given by her family. Especially items from a lost loved one. She had even brought all of the gifts that her parents gave her to the Academy.

So Yuuki had agreed to help the girl find the necklace. It did not take them long until they found the necklace at a bird's nest up a tree. Yuuki had discovered this when she saw something shiny gleaming in the moonlight.

The girl profusely thanked Yuuki and now they were sitting at a bench and chit chattering. Yuuki soon learned that the girl's name was Wakaba Sayori. She was in the same year as Yuuki.

"I didn't get out much when I was younger, my guardians were very protective of me," Yuuki explained why she didn't know all the festivals that Sayori had mentioned.

"Hm, there's a festival coming up soon, if you like and don't mind, you can come with me and few of my friends?" Sayori suggested.

"That sounds wonderful, I would like to go, but I first need to consult with my brother."

Sayori nodded her head and grinned, "I hope you can go."

"I hope so too, my brother can be pretty protective towards me, but I think he will let me go."

"Your brother…does he go to this Academy as well?"

"Yes, his name is Kuran Kaname. The guy who is often seen with me, he has dark brown curly hair. Does it sound familiar?"

"Oh…that guy. Yes, most of my friends have mentioned about him. I don't see him much or the other Night class members as I usually head back to my dorm when class is dismissed," Sayori explained.

"That's good, you make my job easier then," Yuuki laughed, liking how she could finally meet a person who wasn't very into the Night Class. Possibly no obsession.

"I feel sorry for you too that you have to deal with my classmates. It must be tough controlling them. I could hear their screaming when I walk back to the dorm."

"It's okay, but I don't think I'm doing a very good job, I still have lots to learn. Particularly how to be more effective of getting them to collaborate with me," Yuuki said, frankly.

,

,

******Later that Night; Yuuki's Bedroom**

Yuuki had a hard time reading the novel in front of her. The conversation that she had with Sayori was still lingering in her mind.

- Flashback -

"___Wow, then you two seem really close. A pair of twin dolls. No wonder there were rumors that you two were not biological siblings and actually a couple," Sayori commented after hearing that Yuuki and Kaname had did everything together since they were small._

"___Do they?" Yuuki knew who to blame for the Day Class to suspect such things, her mate who was not ashamed of showing his love for her in public. It was sweet, but she wondered was it to tell every male species to back off._

"___Yes, and then there was a ridiculous theory that you two were in an incestuous relationship."_

___That was it, the pecking on the cheek had to stop when they are around the Day Class students, Yuuki thought._

"___I see," Yuuki slowly replied, unsure should she tell Sayori about the truth. "Well…let's just say that I am in that type of relationship with him. What would you think?" She wanted to see how Sayori would react._

___Yuuki had expected to see Sayori jolt in her seat or her eyes dilate but those didn't happen. Instead, Yuuki observed how Sayori stiffened a little and being too fascinate with the lines on her palms-unless Sayori was trying to be her own palmist._

"___Love has no boundaries…?" Sayori carefully chose her words, trying her best to not offend Yuuki in any way._

"___I was just kidding with you, Sayori." Yuuki lightly shoved Sayori on the shoulder and half-smiled. She decided that she shouldn't make her first human friend to suffer by being her guinea pig of seeing how exactly humans react to incest._

"___That's good." Sayori smiled back. "Because incest is viewed wrong in our society."_

"___I know."_

-End of Flash Back-

"Do I really know?" Yuuki asked herself, exhaling and flipping the next page in the book.

"Know what?" Kaname's voice was heard.

"That it is wrong," Yuuki replied, thinking that it was her conscience that was talking to her.

"Shakespeare had once said 'To do a great right, do a little wrong'…" Kaname quietly said.

"Well that—" Yuuki paused when she looked up to see Kaname leisurely leaning against her door. "Oh, good evening."

"Looks like Hanabusa has trained you well, reading a Spanish book upside down? Impressive, even I'm still working on that," Kaname said, gesturing to the worn-out novel she borrowed from the library.

Yuuki only smiled and put the book aside. "I have to have at least one task that I should be better at or that would be unfair."

"Since when did we become so competitive with each other?" he asked, coming over to her and settling nicely next to her on the sofa. He then rested his head on her lap and stared up at her.

"Since the day I lost you to chess." She held up two fingers. "And those two times that you let me win don't count. If you do it again, I'll be angry and simply giving me an ice-cone won't make me forgive you."

He laughed at her and said, "Alright, I wish you good luck then. Anyways, what was the whole wrong thing about?"

"Do you really want to know?"

He nodded his head and she told her encounter with Sayori in the yard earlier.

"So is it wrong to love you?" she asked, pretending to be doubtful to see what he would say.

"Well, what do you think?" he calmly asked.

"Hm…I think I can't stop loving you," she answered. She then busied herself with combing his hair with her hand. She knew he liked her doing that. "That may be a problem, I'll always follow wherever you go, pestering you." She purposefully lightly pulled one of his curls.

He smiled in return, delighted to hear that and hoped that it would be true. "It's not easy, is it? That's how I always feel about you. It's like a disease."

She placed her hand on his neck, gently stroking it with her fingers. Oh, how much she missed biting into his neck and tasting his blood. "Deadly disease," she added, thinking how easily it was to have a tragic ending if one of them was not careful with completely draining the other's blood. "If we continue this, we will be eating the forbidden fruit. Are you not afraid for our future children?"

He shook his head and said, "Not at all, we turned out fine. We're vampires, Yuuki. Are you spending too much time with the humans?"

"Maybe…" She sounded distracted.

"Thirsty?" he asked, noticing how her hand was still lingering on his throat. It was a good way to change the topic of their conversation.

"Constantly parched, you know how tasty those blood tablets are." She withdrew her hands to fight her temptation. "And you should know what my one and only cure to this is…" She unwillingly took her glass of the dissolved blood tablet that was next to them and threw the liquid into the back of her mouth.

Bloodlust. Zero.

Those two things popped into her mind and she thought it was time that she should avow to Kaname about the bloodlust incident. Though it may have not been evident in her behavior and attitudes in the past few days, she still felt pretty guilty in not coming clean with Kaname on this. He had the right to know, even if it was minor and nothing happened. He was her mate after all.

"Hey, Kaname…I have something to confess," she said, gravely. "The other night when you asked me if I was alright at the fountain…I actually wasn't alright. Something had happened and I was scared to tell you…"

Without delay, he sat back up and peered into her eyes.

"But before I tell you, you have to promise me that you won't do anything unreasonable or mean after hearing this, okay?" she urgently requested, grabbed his hands. "Promise?"

He nodded his head.

"That night, Zero had lost control of his bloodlust…" she slowly said, observing his every movement and hoping that he would not hurt Zero later. "And he attacked me—but don't worry! Nothing happened whatsoever, I can guarantee you that. No one got hurt. Not a drop of blood was spilled. "

"I see," he calmly replied. Did he know about this?

"Of course, thanks to mother teaching me her 'pureblood kick of doom', I wouldn't know what to do without it," she continued. "The reason I didn't tell you is because remember long time ago, when you found out that Hanabusa and I slept next to each other a couple of times when we were small?" She let go of his hands. "After that day of discovery, Hanabusa had ___mysteriously _disappeared for a few months and Michiru-san had told me that he was studying abroad in France… I knew that you did it." She frowned, placing her hands on her hips. "You had left some of your evidence wide-open in your room."

Busted. How was Kaname going to explain himself this time? A somewhat sheepish grin formed on his face as he decided to admit of his 'crime'. "What can I say…love is a deadly disease," he repeated of what they said earlier in hopes that they would change subjects soon.

She sighed and said, "Anyways, are you okay with this? That I told you this late? Angry?" She tried to search an answer in his eyes.

"Angry, a little," he nodded his head, "but I trust you. I guess you had your reasons to be afraid to tell me…"

"So you're not going to make Chairman Cross expel him or send him to Spain for a few months, right?"

"No, I rather take you to Spain for a few months," he teased back. "Anyways, speaking of going to places, how would you, Miss Prefect, like to go out with me tonight?" He stood up and offered his hand to her.

"Go out…? But it's so late now...it's two in the morning now and we have school tomorrow," she said, surprised that he was getting away with his possessiveness-issue.

"We can be back around noon the latest and get a few hours of sleep."

"But, Mister Class President, I thought we were only allowed to go to town during the weekends and we would need to get permission from you," she reminded him.

"Well, like you said, I'm the class president, so I say we can go."

"This isn't like you…why the sudden urge to go out tonight?" She squinted her eyes at him. "Are you really my Onii-sama, Kaname? Or did he get kidnapped?"

"Is it against the rule that a fiancé wants to go on a date with his fiancée?" he asked, tilting his head. "You had mentioned that we weren't spending enough time together, so let's go out." He then hesitated on what he was about to say next, "And I have a meeting over the weekend…"

Yuuki rolled her eyes at this, so that would explain why he wanted to go out tonight.

"So what do you say, Miss Prefect?"

"Yes, I would love to go out with you," she happily said, putting her hand on top of his. He led her to the window and opened it, creating an escape path. He then was about to jump off the window first, so that he could catch her later at the bottom. She pulled him back and said, "Kaname, I think we should change first…I'm still in my nightgown and you're in your slippers."

___To be continue…_

******.**

******.**

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********Future Previews – Overview of Story****

"Kaname-sama...that's not dark chocolate-flavored," he cautiously said. "It is...burnt chocolate cookies. It was supposed to be milk chocolate-flavored." He gulped as he was not sure should he continue. "And it was made by Yuuki-sama."

******.**

"Takuma...did you just throw a pillow at Kaname-sama?" The entire night class stared in horror as they anticipatedly waited how the powerful pureblood would react to being involved in such a supposedly fun feathery harmless game of pillow fight.

******.**

Instead of tears forming in her eyes and threatening to spill, her anger flared furiously, she unconsciously tightened her fists as she continued to watch her beloved's fangs digging deeper into the neck of the lady in the kimono. Never did she feel so much anger in her life. He was the one who said that they should keep their blood to only each other, implying that they should drink only each other's blood and no one else, yet he was doing it now. A malicious thought was tugging at her to fly over to where they were, clutch the lady's throat until she choked, and throw her out the opened-window into the water fountain outside. She didn't even know that her possessiveness over him could be that severe to do such a thing, and she was frightened that her body might really execute those actions; she bit her inner cheeks while she controlled her beast within.

This was no nightmare, she thought. She could actually smell her precious blood tainting the atmosphere. Disgusted by the sight and scent of the scenery, she turned her heels and left the room. She was not going to forgive him for this as it had insulted her blood greatly…

******- End of Previews -**

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******Authoress' Note:** Alright, that was the end of this chapter. Are any of your readers wondering why Kaname's reaction was so calm to Yuuki's confession? Doesn't it seem that he obviously knew this beforehand (perhaps from his assistant?). Also, note that Kaname was referring to something when he quoted Shakespeare. Does anyone want to guess? Then, what would Kaname and Yuuki do at 2AM? Or rather, where would they go. Ha-ha. Anyways, this chapter was extremely light-hearted like the previous chapter, I'd noticed that I had been writing fluffs for this our favorite pureblood couple lately, so maybe it's time that things get serious in this story. Have more story progression. What do you readers think?

So it would be terrific if I can get some feedback from you readers, please do so. I would like to know how I am doing in this story! :)

Lastly, if you like my writing style in general or are terribly bored/looking for a Yume story to read, then please check out my newest story "Guilty Rose"^^! It would be greatly appreciated. The main pairing is Kaname and Yuuki, it is another AU. Here's a summary if you're interested:

After Juuri sealed Yuuki's vampire side and died, Rido managed to kidnap Yuuki. Instead of devouring her, he decided it would be fairly interesting if he would raise and groom her to be his mate—particularly turning her against Kaname. So, he evilly devised a plan for Yuuki to kill Kaname. However, things sometimes don't go to the way we plan. As Yuuki begins to find it strangely difficult to kill Kaname, her mind and heart are in conflict with one another. She doesn't know who to listen—Rido or Kaname. Who will she kill?

Now it's my time to sign off, it's so late at where I live and I have morning classes to attend the next day, I hope you all will have a relaxing 3 day weekend. Happy early Martin Luther King Junior Day!

January 12, 2012


	15. Perfect Crime

Hellos.

Announcements:

1.) Apologies—I sincerely and profusely apologize for not updating over a year. A lot has happened last year, from university graduation to unemployment to landing on my first full-time career job (accounting). I've been severely stressed and depressed. My free time has been dried up drastically and just when I thought that everything has finally calmed down, I discovered that I want to do something different… but I don't know what and I have to search for it… Anyways, enough of my personal life, I understand that this has been far the longest time I haven't updated. I've greatly disappointed you wonderful readers, the only way I can think of making it up is by trying harder on updating more regularly.

2.) Thank you—As always, I can't express how grateful I'm to see some of you readers being so loyal to my story. Your reviews are very motivating and brighten my day. In return, I hope this chapter will bring some happiness or laughter in your day.

Again, I want to do a few shout outs to some anonymous readers that I unfortunately couldn't PM: yukia, anon, Summer Watson, Vampess, duipo22, loveyou, Roofs, Filipinofashion, LadyAnnalise, frenchfan, XienRue, and JulieBookLover21.

If I missed replying to your review, I do apologize, please know that I appreciate each and every one of you.

3.) Chapter's Content—Fluff warning, Enough said. More story progression is scheduled in next chapter.

4.) VK Manga—As many you know are aware, the manga is finally coming to an end next month. I'm just curious on your feels of it. I don't know how much impact it will have on this story.

5.) Soundtrack-I highly recommend after reading the Zeki scene, you should hop over to You Tube to play a song called "Painted Skin Melody (piano)", it's very soothing and fits the Yume scene very well. That was what I was listening to as I wrote that chapter.

Lastly, thank you to kawaii hime-sama for beta-ing this chapter! You're the best.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight - this will be my very last time putting it here, as many of you know that fact and bored of skimming/skipping it.

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**Chapter 15: Perfect Crime **

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**.**

After changing into more proper clothing and footwear, they were about to venture out of their safe haven until Yuuki grabbed her hair in clumps and frowned at the tiny knots that were accumulating.

She sometimes wondered a lifestyle of shorter hair, something like Sayori's cute wavy short bob. Must be less time-consuming when grooming it, but the idea was instantly banished for fear of uncertainly and length of recovery. In addition, from the constant hair-petting she received as a child, she was fully aware that Kaname preferred her long locks and she didn't mind the high maintenance as long as it kept him happy.

Hearing the rustle of leaves being loudly whisked by the wind, she soon channeled her thoughts to the possibly of having assorted ornaments appended by the spontaneous blowing onto her already tangled hair.

"Just a moment." She dashed to her vanity and her nimble fingers assiduously twisted up three sections of her hair, completely forgotten about the misbehaved knots.

A cool hand soon covered hers, interrupting the process and catching her gaze.

"Let me do it for you, just like old times," Kaname suggested, letting the corners of his lips quirk up at the nostalgia.

As much as sweet that sounded, Yuuki blinked in hesitation, her hands still firmly keeping the braids in place. She opened her mouth midway for an gingerly remark that she could do it faster and lets just say that braiding hair was not Kaname's specialty.

Throughout their childhood at their manor, he had volunteered numerously on styling her hair which would result Juuri, in awe of the adorable gesture but astounded by the messiness that the handiwork included, offering to tidy up. Of course, due to her gentle nature, Yuuki would refuse until she had to wash her hair. She didn't want to hurt his feelings.

It was too late to politely decline when his hands weaved into her hair. She rested her eyes, reeling in the touch of his fingers working through her hair. The feeling was exceedingly soothing; no wonder he liked it so much. It was peaceful, all her worries seemed to dispel.

She sighed in content and waited patiently for him to finish.

The outcome was the least she was expecting; the lengthy braid was even and smooth. Did Hanabusa give him a tip or two? Hanabusa always helped fix her hair whenever she got it in a disastrous state and saved her from his mother's infinite rants on how a lady should keep her hair prim and proper just like her clothes and manners and many other things.

Hanabusa claimed that he had such refined skills with hair was due to being the victim of his dear sisters whenever they wanted to try a new hairstyle in their childhood days. Through many struggles and failures of eluding, he became their vampire doll, observing and learning a few tips which assisted him in keeping his hairstyle stylish and well-groomed all the time.

Once done and not wanting to lose any more time, Kaname and Yuuki jumped out of the window and into the green sea of trees.

For some strange reasons, perhaps the naughty idea of sneaking out into town on a school's night, Yuuki thought of a frisky idea of racing against Kaname to see who could get to the town first.

"Catch me if you can," she whispered in a tone that sounded almost taunting. She then tapped into her powers to expeditiously glide through the trees, barely making any noise and blending well with the shadows of the night.

She liked this new feeling, adrenaline surging through her veins and excitement crawling on her skin. Soft breezes blew against her face and body. Diving low and soaring high as she hopped like a cat from branch to branch of their school's garden.

For a moment, she thought she had a chance of winning when she jumped over the stoned fence which secluded their newly birthed vampire and human co-existence institution, and still felt Kaname's presence distantly from her.

Smiling proudly, she picked up her pace and ran down the road to town. Her small moment of victory was short-lived when she felt a sudden force past by her and Kaname stood in all his glory on top of the fountain lying in the town's square.

"Caught you,"

"Don't you always." Heaving slightly, she placed her hands on her hips and tried to regain composure. She strangely felt a little drained from the short aerobic activity and unconsciously rubbed her neck, feeling the need to replenish her energy through blood. She then quickly shook her head at that thought and straightened her posture. "I'm okay," she reassured him when she saw a questioning look, "just probably fatigued and not used to this much running. I would have thought that patrolling around the campus would give me an upper hand but I guess not. I should opt for the paperwork exercise, huh?" she held up her forearm, patting her flat biceps.

"Don't underestimate paperwork, it's quite cruel." He ambled over to her and she slipped her hand into the inviting crook of his arm. "Not all the letters we receive are pleasant," he shared. "Though the words may seem polite and proper, many criticizing messages are hidden underneath. It takes time to compose a letter that doesn't offend others yet vigorously remind them of the values that our ancestors hold."

Marching onward, he stared in the far distance. "The rules or guidelines that our ancestors once set were plain and simple…to sustain our society and the human's. However, some people manage to take advantage of the unaddressed issues and add words of deceit... Have the tide turned in their favor... Hypocrisy..."

The last word was barely detected as he thought of the past and the people who he had encountered and interacted with. The memories were starting to become overwhelming. The only sounds audible were their light breathing and when their shoes met the ground.

Feeling her lover's mind being stuck in the past, Yuuki clung onto his arm harder and leaned her head against his shoulder. "We live in a complicated society, don't we?"

This plucked Kaname back to the present and made him realize that he shouldn't pull his innocent Yuuki into this. "Sorry," he suddenly said.

"For...?"

"Ranting, this is supposed to be a date and not a debate or discussion of how poorly the status of our council and society are."

"Kaname..." She halted her steps and stared at him.

Despite the stress and unhappiness that were attached to his previous words, he seemed calm and collected. Lips positioned in a straight, tight line while his eyes had the illusion of being vacant but she could see a wink of sorrow hidden very, very deeply.

"I'm your sister," she slowly said, "and your lover..." Hearing herself saying the latter claim felt a tad odd, she sometimes still couldn't believe that they have changed their relationship status. It seemed surreal, they constantly talked about it when they were children but now, actually walking down that path with him, it excited her but at the same time, she knew they would experience obstacles.

"It's okay to vent out about events that didn't turn out the way we wanted or in our case, how badly the construction of our council and society are. That's what lovers do; they share their pain and happiness. If we don't do so, then our relationship will strain. It will be harder to reach out to each other." She paused for few seconds and lowered her head. "Yes, I admit I'm not the brightest girl out there and I probably won't be able to help you much in terms of taking our pureblood's duty of leading our people and be a sturdy pillar of our society... But I'm willing to learn and be your support. After all, time is what we have, right?" She smiled at the thought of spending eternity with him. "And if you don't share your feelings and thoughts... I'll get angry and ignore you." She withdrew herself from him to show she was solemn.

"Yuuki..." He was utterly taken back at the mini speech she gave. She wanted to take her part in becoming a leader. Before he could form a proper reply in his mind, a raspy male voice yelled, "Hey! What and why are you two whippersnappers wandering in town past curfew?"

The Kurans turned to see a short red-headed man standing there, donning a well-polished police uniform with many shiny medals that screamed for attention. He beamed them with a gigantic flashlight much to Yuuki's annoyance. An angry scowl was on his face, indicating he was in a foul mood and that was not a good sign for him to be patrolling the town at this super late hour—not to mention bumping into vampires.

In reflex, Kaname grabbed Yuuki's hand and thought of ways to flee. He could simply jump high up to a building next to them and take her back to the Academy but that would spawn rumors in town that there were humans jumping supernaturally. Then there was the option of knocking out the man and possibly erasing this thirty seconds interaction from his mind. That seemed an ideal solution and he began to lock eyes with the blue-eyed man.

The gaze didn't even last three seconds when Yuuki hastily yanked him away and whispered, "Run!"

This certainly puzzled or rather amused Kaname that she would take such a mortal approach. Obviously, they could outrun this angry policeman but she didn't and ran in a normal pace.

Obediently, he had let her lead, turning corner after corner. Jumping over barrels and boxes, ducking from dangling advertising sign posts time to time. The sight of her being in this cat-and-mouse game was a side that he never saw. He didn't know if this was her childlike nature that drove her to behave like this. Or was it simply her mischievous side that she always exhibited but he never got the opportunity to see it?

"Drats, dead end." She complained when they faced a brick wall that was way taller than them. The quickest way to solve this problem was to do an insane leap over it but that would mean they had to resort to their powers.

Without giving a second thought, Kaname led Yuuki back to the way where they came from. Yuuki could see the mad policeman in a distance; she squeezed his hand as it was her turn to be confused.

Kaname made a sharp left turn, then right when they almost bumped into the policeman, who yelped for fear of collision. After more running and turnings, he found an alley without any street lights. He eagerly plunged their bodies into the curtain of darkness.

Eyes glowing in a pink hue color, allowing him to see what were lurking in the dark; he spotted a dented area, from the deteriorating building on their right side.

The cove was indeed small and cramped but it fit them perfectly with their bodies loosely brushing against each other and Yuuki's head snuggly rested on his chest, hearing his rapid heartbeat. His hands rested on top of her head and her shoulder, a sign of protection.

When they heard the policeman past by them and ran off in a different direction, Yuuki finally let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. "Wow, that was close."

"You don't say," he breathed out and couldn't believe what he had just done. His eyes met hers and saw how they were sparkling from excitement fused with affection.

Abruptly, gales of laughter escaped from their throats for a few seconds but died soon with Yuuki covering her mouth, thinking that the policeman would have heard them.

"So why did you do it?" she asked, curious on why he played along with her in this silly game.

He thought for a moment and answered, "Instincts." He leaned his forehead down against hers.

"Instincts?" She leaned her forehead up, enjoying the warmness radiating off him.

"And it was fun to try something new."

"Oh?"

"What about you?"

"Let's just say I'm usually pretty good at this chasing game."

"Oh?" he mimicked her earlier response.

She sighed and said, "Back when I was living with the Aidous, Michiru-san would constantly send her servants to get me dressed up for your visits and you know the rest... You never showed up and I lost trust..." Dejectedly, she lowered her sight and seemed to be fascinated with one of the buttons on his coat. "Thus," she exhaled again, "I kept running each time, I didn't want to experience the disappointment."

"I'm sorry," he caressed her left cheek, seeking attention. It was a cruel thing he did but it served as a lesson and tested her independence.

"It's okay," she recovered quickly, not wanting to spoil their date's mood, "that's all in the past, you can redeem yourself in the future."

"Or now," he gave a peck on her lips.

"Just one kiss?"

He gave her a questioning look.

She then jabbed her index finger at his chest and said, "To show more sincerity, I expect you to patrol next week, do my homework, iron my uniform each afternoon, run errands for me and oh, feed my cat."

It took a few seconds for Kaname to suppress his laughter. He knew she was just putting up an act and he wanted to see where she was going with this, so he asked, "You have a cat...?"

"Yes, he has fur as dark as night," she waved a hand towards the dusky sky. "Wine-colored eyes." Her eyes glowed, giving a predatory look that made him think that he wouldn't mind becoming her prey. "He's extremely possessive and crazily overly protective, he doesn't like it when I spend too much time with other people, mainly males... He seems arrogant and intimidating at times, but deep, deep down, he's a big softie. Kind-hearted, he just doesn't know how to express himself at times. Oh, and his name is Yume."

"Yume? What an interesting name... Sounds awfully familiar, how did you meet him?"

"In the last few years, he came to visit me whenever I was lonely. For a cat, he's considered pretty loyal and obedient. Sometimes I do wonder my encounters with him, his existence... Is it just a Yume? A dream? It's too perfect." She ended her narration. "You're too perfect."

_I'm far from perfect_, he thought. He made many mistakes in the past that had hurt other people. He was also selfish and there were many other bad flaws he had.

"...I'm not perfect..." He felt his throat becoming dry, making it hard to continue and he knew that it was not his thirst. Part of him wanted to spill everything about him, his past and his white lies of being her brother. He wanted to come clean but that would also mean to destroy everything he had built for her world. Not to mention the threat of Rido and his own ultimate plan of making sure that Yuuki would be free of harm in their society.

He slowly inhaled, procrastinating on making the decision of telling her the truth or not. "Not everything I do is good... I had-"

Tiptoeing, she leaned up and cut him short with a brief kiss. "Everybody makes mistakes," she stated the obvious. "That's how we learn." She added with a smile. "I know you think you are not, but you will always be perfect to me," she confessed.

Innocent and naïve, those words had touched him and made want to do nothing but hold her, kiss her. That was his way of showing affections. He wasn't a man of many words; he preferred to show his feelings through actions. Therefore, naturally he pulled her into another kiss.

She eagerly responded, missing this type of bonding time with him. She soon jumped into his arms, her toes being tired of supporting her. He caught her in time and gently pushed her back against the wall, deepening the kiss.

Throughout the bonding time, she found herself nuzzling and kissing his neck repetitively. Her fangs even surfaced and softly grazed his neck occasionally, longing for the contact with the red thick blood beneath it.

He did the same to her neck and they both knew what was about to happen.

_Drink._

He sent that thought over to her mind, his mouth obviously too occupied with her neck.

Delighted to hear his encouragement, she pecked twice on his neck before licking it and sinking her hungry fangs in.

**,**  
**,**

After their bonding time was over, dawn was approaching and Yuuki wanted to see the sunrise despite her eyes might be a little uncomfortable. Kaname suggested they should go back to the forest and wait there.

Surrounding by nature and its beauty, the pair lounged around and updated each other on their lives at the Academy. While chatting, they watched how the tranquil forest woke up with birds happily chirping and little animals shyly crawling out of their hiding place to start their days.

"The sounds are so soothing," Yuuki said, closing her eyes to concentrate on a nearby river's current. "Nature's symphony, it makes me want to dance and sway to the rhythm."

"Then, may I have this dance?"

She lifted her eyelids to see him slightly bowing, one hand hidden in the back and the other extended to her. This was the second time tonight, or rather morning, that he offered his hand in such a princely way. It made her feel like Cinderella and that when the clock stroke at noon, they would have to go back to the Academy.

He would then resume his role as the Night Class' president while she resumed her role as the prefect. Different duties to carry out and paths to take.

Perhaps, she should have tried out to be the Vice President for their class. That way, she could be working with him, side by side, but that would take away Takuma's job.

Speaking of Takuma, he was doing a splendid job as Vice President, always knowing every little internal affair that was going on and handling disputes efficiently. Yuuki greatly appreciated the efforts that he exerted and thought that no one could do it better than him.

"Onii-sama, you of all people should know that I'm horrendous when it comes to dancing," she said. Before he could argue or encourage her, she held up her hands and said, "I stepped on Hanabusa's foot about 33 times throughout all the rehearsals we did for my soirée."

"But you didn't step on me and besides..." He laced his fingers with hers, pulling her up from the ground and placing her feet on atop of his feet. "I was thinking we could dance…just like old times."

"Just like old times," she mumbled, thinking if she would ever get bored of reminiscing their past together. After all, there was a gap of few years that they rarely saw each other. The memories they shared were mainly of ephemeral childhood and she was sure they would make many more in coming years.

"Ready?"

"Set, go."

His feet lifted on the ground and picked up the rhythm of waltz. Moving forward and backward, trying to be in fluid movements as possible, and occasionally spinning, which resulted a giggling Yuuki due to almost losing balance.

After many spins and laughter, their little fairytale dance ended when the sun's rays peeked from the horizon. They watched the sunrise from the shady trees. The nature's illuminance did sting Yuuki's eyes but she insisted on seeing such a breathtaking sight.

"Shall we take a morning stroll in town?" Kaname asked, pulling Yuuki out of reverie.

"Would the town be waking up this early?"

"We can go see for ourselves," he caught her hand and led them back into town.

Taking their time and preserving their rare date, they arrived back just in time when the stores were blooming to life.

The scent of yeast was swirling from the bakeries, exchanges of greetings were heard among the villagers. Town square was bustling with people rushing to work.

From the tailor shop to bakery to the newspaper stand, Yuuki dragged Kaname to observe and explore. They even passed by a bookstore that had "pretty-picture-books" in which Yuuki constantly found Takuma reading in his spare time. She suggested that they should buy some for his upcoming birthday but Kaname had said otherwise, he already had his mind set on buying him a katana.

This resulted in a birth of wager, that they will both get a present respectively for Takuma. Whichever present Takuma liked most would mean that the giver would be granted with one wish or favor from the loser.

A song of noon was chimed from the town's tower clock, indicating that their first date was approaching its ending.

"Looks like Cinderella's time is up," Yuuki sighed, shoulders slumping, "Time to run away." She pulled him into a secluded alley.

"The prince shall escort her back," he gallantly said.

"The prince is supposed to chase after her," she reminded him and untangled herself from him, "however, she is too weary to do that and would much prefer if her prince does accompany her." She leaned back towards him. "Perhaps, she's swept off her feet and next thing she knows, she sees the gates of their dream castle where humans and vampire could live peacefully with one another."

"Understood, my love." His eyes faded into crimson hue, scanning to see if any mortals were witnessing of what he was about to do next. When the vicinity was clear, his own black cloak picked up a wind current and swirled around them. Darkness enclosed them and she clung to him, not out of fear but a sign that she trusted him.

In the next minute, they vanished into thin air.

**,**

**,**

Swinging hand in hand, they carefully maneuver their way in the Moon Dorm's lobby. They were successful in visually going by without any of their fellow classmates' notice until...

"Kaname-sama."

"Yuuki-sama?"

A male and female voice chorused at the same time, halting their gait.

The pureblood couple peered at the direction of voices to find two aristocrat vampires in their sleepwear attires, chilling on the sofa. The two were sitting considerably close, shoulders bumping, but the champagne-colored hair vampire had her arms and legs crossed, suggesting tension between the two.

"Hanabusa, Ruka." Kaname greeted back.

"You two are up early," Yuuki chirped.

"Can't sleep," the nobles answered in unison and exchanged looks with each other.

"I see," Yuuki said awkwardly, not sure how to cut their interaction short. All she wanted to do was scurry off to bed with her fiancé.

"Late journey?" they inquired in a refrain, causing them to this time glare at each other.

Though it was a casual question, Yuuki felt she was caught in crime of sneaking out with Kaname. True, they were the leaders of their class and didn't have to spell out their every intention to their fellow classmates, giving them pureblood's privacy but it felt weird to Yuuki to do this among her childhood friends.

"Yes," Kaname answered for them, seeing Yuuki lost in her thoughts.

Getting the hint that they shouldn't be so nosy, Ruka stood up and eyed the fellow blond vampire. "Well then, classes will be commencing in a couple hours. You two must be exhausted," she gave them a route of bypassing them.

"Yes, yes," Hanabusa chimed in and faked a yawn. "We should leave them alone." He stood up and was about to walk pass the couple until his nostrils picked up a strong sense of blood from them. Concern immediately gauged at him and he said, "Kaname-sama, Yuuki-sama, are you two alright? There are blo-ow!"

"Oh darn, it got away..." Ruka said, lifting off her pink silk slipper from Hanabusa's feet.

"What was that for?!" Hanabusa snapped at his attacker, who he sworn that he caught a glimpse of a smug.

"There was this really big, unruly hairy, annoying spider right next to your foot," Ruka sympathetically explained. "I was trying to do you a favor by killing it."

"Ruka," Hanabusa tried his best not to shout and hissed, "you know I'm not arachnophobic. Not."

"Well, what if I say I was?"

"Says the person who is brave enough to step on it so _hard_?"

"I have overcome my fear but it's just in my reflexes to kill one whenever I spot one. You should have seen it, that pesky spider was getting on my nerves since the moment we sat on that sofa and talked about feelings." She casually placed a hand on her hip and examined the freshly painted sea-shelled-colored nails she did with Rima earlier, leaving a flabbergasted Hanabusa.

Were all Souen women so abrasive and sharp-tongued? Michiru had often extoled how genteel the Souen clan was. From his encounters with Ruka's mother and grandmother, they were incredibly doting towards him, stuffing him with exquisite homemade cider cakes, soufflés, and bonbons at their fancy tea parties.

Unless they were trying to fatten him up so that they could enjoy their late afternoon teas by sipping his rich blood dry, Hanabusa could not come up with another reason why he was mollycoddled by the two older Souen ladies…

He suddenly felt his body becoming one with his element ice when that other reason finally popped into his mind. They wanted him to be Ruka's suitor or did he dare say son-in-law. His body temperature dropped even lower.

The oblivious fog was clearing up in his mind. His own mother had several times fussily inquired his perception of Ruka to which he dismissed by claiming to be busy with his studies. His father was sneaky too with the excuse of "father-and-son" talks to remind him that besides being successful in career, a man should find a good wife to manage his household or more specifically, a fine lady such as Ruka. That would also explain why he was frequently sent over to Souen's house for tutoring sessions with Ruka that usually didn't end well.

Hanabusa's eyes darted to the right, scrutinizing the said lady next to him. In truth, she was gorgeous with her spellbinding dusty-rose-colored eyes and long wavy sandy blonde hair that made him want to run his hands through it to see if it was Medusa's hair in disguise. Then there were the typical traits that all aristocrat vampires possessed—high cheek bones, tall nose, milky white skin, and luscious lips.

_Crap_, did he just describe her as attractive? Oh, no, no. He had sworn that if they were the last vampires on earth, he would rather get together with a human girl or become a monk and live in solitude—if that was even possible—than spend few hundred years with her. No way would he become mates with her. Besides, Akatsuki liked her and though he didn't verbally called dibs on pursuing her, Hanabusa was well aware.

"Wow, look at the time," Yuuki quickly interjected. For the past few minutes, she had been fussing over the stains on her mate's shirt, thinking it would magically fade with dabs of saliva and rubbing her fingers on it. She also chit chatted with him on what would he like to eat for dinner and dessert, concluding that the maids should cook for time's sake. After that discussion, she noticed how distinctly quiet it got and pulled herself out of their world to find two scowling nobles.

"Anyways," Yuuki gestured towards the dark drapes with sunlight seeping through. Her mate needed sleep and so did she. "I'll leave you two be and perhaps, continue to talk about _feelings_ while I'm going to take a shower and charge up before I've my daily fray against the Day Class. Good night!" She unenthusiastically let go of Kaname's hand and climbed up the flight of stairs.

After watching Yuuki getting out of his sight, much to his displeasure, Kaname said, "Looks like I have a shower to catch. You two carry on." He followed Yuuki's footsteps. "Oh, and try not to shatter the chandeliers like last time or castigation will reprise."

The nobles stared at each other again.

"You don't think...?" Hanabusa's hand motioned to the staircase where their leaders briskly disappeared. "That…"

"That...?" Ruka raised an eyebrow, impatiently waiting for him to spit it out in the next ten seconds or he would be talking to thin air pretty soon.

"That...they are...you know." He paused to prevent from stuttering, knowing the witty Souen would surely mock him.

"I don't know what _you think_ I know."

"No, I meant..."

"Hold it," she dropped the dumb act and held up a hand to his face, not wanting to hear anything embarrassing about their leaders, "if you think I know what you think I know, then no."

"What? That didn't make any sense!"

"He went to his own bedroom," she sighed at how slow he was, "get your head out of the gutter." She spun around, her locks twirling with her and a pleasant fragrance of wild honeysuckle waffled to his nose, and marched up the stairs.

Hanabusa shook his head, denying that he liked that scent and not knowing why he was paying attention to these little things of her today. It must be what they discussed earlier, _feelings_.

He yanked the cerulean-colored handkerchief of his pajamas' patch pocket and took a long whiff to clear his mind. "Oh, sweet lavender, how I missed you."

**.**

* * *

**.**

Stifling a yawn, Yuuki tore and crushed the piece of color-coded graphing paper in her hands. "This is hopeless," she grumbled and tossed the paper to the miniature mountain where many other crumpled papers laid. "Why must I learn derivatives and their graphs?" She huffed, ready to pull her hair out.

For the past few hours, Yuuki was diligently catching up on her homework and revising for her upcoming calculus exam—which was tomorrow.

"Hey vampire, stop littering in this room. This is not the Moon Dorm where you reign." Zero entered the living room of Headmaster Cross. His voice was full of distaste as usual. "And…why are you here? What graces your great pureblood presence?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't care anyway," Yuuki replied, not bothering to glance at him. She didn't want to waste time on arguing who owned the room. Instead, she resumed doing some derivatives on her paper.

"Very true." He crossed his arms and lingered at the doorway, making Yuuki wonder what was his motive. He wasn't the type of guy who would lounge around and casually strike up conversations with people in the same room. Heck, he didn't seem to care about anything around him.

"For once, we agreed on something, huh?" she sullenly asked. She was tiresome of his acrimonious behavior towards her. When would he realize that vampires were not that different than humans, they could experience emotions and rejection affected her? She wasn't invincible or immune to that. "I must say though… that was quite a selfish and childish answer. As your fellow prefect, you should show some concern. Didn't you have etiquette classes?"

"No need, last time I checked, we're no longer in the medieval age."

"Still, you should take some classes since you seem to have a lot of time on your hands. It helps you to connect with others." She stopped her scrawling and made eye contact with him briefly. Did he have any friends?

"That's none of your business," he annoyingly said. She had no right to criticize his social skills. She was not his mother.

"I know, I wouldn't really care about your business but it's not out of hatred," her tone then softened, "it's the right to respect your privacy. However, it was just a friendly advice."

"I don't take friendly advice from vampires."

Yuuki completely ignored the last comment and continued her revision. She soon found a peering Zero over her shoulder, for a moment she froze and wondered was he thirsty again but his aura was normal. "May I ask if you hate me so much, why are you hovering over me?"

"To check if you're up to no good, who knows what you're writing on that paper—which by the way, you're making a mess and wasting paper. And FYI, we don't have maids over here, we're not lazy."

"Ah, yes, you caught me writing up my evil plan of ending your life," she slammed her pencil down, not because of him but at the frustration of the math problem. "Do you want to confiscate it? I don't mind." She held up the piece of paper.

"Calculus, huh?" he scoffed in disbelief that something so simple could distress her. "Don't tell me the almighty vampire is stuck?"

"We're not that perfect, we have flaws and mine is hardship with calculus. Please mind that we have strengths and weaknesses," she defended her people.

"So not all vampires are intelligent?" he was amused at these newfound facts.

"It depends majority of rank and minority of traits. I've only been alive for barely two decades; you don't expect me to know every single thing about life and all this... Stuff." She gestured to her worn out calculus book. "Say, what's with the sudden interest?"

"Pff, the more weaknesses I know about your kind, the more efficient I can be with my job." He stuffed his hands into his pants' pockets and acted impassive, trying to hide his curiosity at first. "Besides, why are you being studious here of all places?"

"Too many distractions in the Moon Dorm." She thought back how earlier the night, she sat across from Kaname in his study room. It was a wonderful opportunity to bond, working together side by side. It started out well but then when Kaname finished his work, he just watched her struggle through her homework and commented how adorable she looked whenever she asked if something was wrong. It was sweet but she had no time for that kind of bonding.

"Even in your own bedroom?"

"Definitely,"

"Library then?"

"Zero, I know you don't care about my well-being or calculus problems, you just want me out of here, huh?"

"Maybe,"

She let out an exasperate sigh. "You don't own this room or building or property, you know."

"My duty is to segregate vamps and humans after curfew hours."

"So do I, anyways..." She didn't want to argue with him anymore and decided that she could use this alone time with him to talk about something else. "Zero... I would like to talk to you about something. Can you please sit down?"

"No luck, I don't want to talk to you," he stubbornly replied and approached the door but it shut by itself. His hand slipped into his pocket again, reaching for Bloody Rose.

"I'll stand then." She saw this coming and rose up, facing him while leaning against the table. "This is about our relationship and blood lust."

He stayed silent, refusing to turn around. His hand stayed in contact with his gun for safety.

"Firstly, relationship, I know you hate me and that's fine but that's only fine if you don't like what I did or how I behaved. We can talk about it and fix it. However," she paused to collect her thoughts, "if you hate me because of what another vampire had done, I think that is unfair."

She crossed her ankles and waited for him to protest or rant but nothing came out of his mouth, so she continued: "You have my deepest sympathy for your loss, no words can describe the pain that you went through. I'll never understand but if you ever need help, Kaname and I are here to help you..."

"I don't need your help," he replied irksomely, hammering his other fist onto the door. If it weren't for vampires, he wouldn't be living such a bitter life. He would still have his parents and Ichiru…

"You're strong, I can tell or else you wouldn't still be here," she honestly told him. She had come to that conclusion upon hearing his past from Kaname and the fact that he prolonged the transition of becoming a Level E without a drink from his master. "I do hope that justice can be served but sometimes life is just the way it is. It's unfair and makes it difficult for us to move on, but harboring this hatred is extremely unhealthy. An eye for an eye..." She remembered how her uncle killed her parents and in return, her brother killed her uncle. Sometimes she wondered if that was the right thing to do, couldn't they give a second chance to her uncle?

_No_, she thought. Her uncle wanted to devour her. It was her life or his life.

"...would only cause the whole world to be blind. We have to cope with our past and not let depression sink us. In your case, you should keep moving forward, be a good knight in protecting humans from the bad vampires and I'll do the same. Together, we might able to eliminate or at least reduce these tragedies from occurring." She sunk her head into her uniform's collars, blowing air through her nostrils. "It's inevitable that there are bad vampires, much to my dismay. Just like how there are bad humans. This goes very deep, to the very roots of our society."

She looked sadly at him. "I do feel responsible for their actions, as their leader, I'm supposed to lead them..." Her voice trailed off, feeling useless for letting so many atrocities happen but what could she have done to help? For the past decade, she was busily learning how to become a lady and preparing her entrance to their vampire society. Also, even if she did want to help, she knew she had to deal with the Council of Elders which wouldn't be easy according to Kaname.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly said, closing her eyes and dipping her head further down to show a bow. Though those were valid excuses that she was unable to oversee vampire activities, she felt she owe him an apology. That was the first step.

He only stared at her and asked in a flat voice, "Did you kill my parents? Were you the one who decided this plan?"

"No," she lifted her head, not sure was he trying to accuse her. "Why would I do such thing?"

"If not, I won't accept this apology, it's meaningless." He whipped around, his eyes glinting of vengeance despite her speech earlier.

She decided to switch onto the second topic. "I see, now addressing the next topic, I'm most concerned about your bloodlust." To prove her point, she purposefully drew blood from her wrist. She held open her wound for a few seconds to observe his reaction.

As expected, his eyes flashed red and he banged against the nearby bookshelf, causing a few books to knock onto the ground. He was about to lurch at her but she protected herself by having a force pushed onto him. She immediately retracted her nail from her skin and licked the trace of blood off. "You obviously have no control over it."

"W-why did you do that? Are y-you taunting me-e?" His eyes remained red but it was more of anger than hunger.

"It was a demonstration to suppress any unnecessary argument that you have everything under control." She narrowed her eyes to portray a serious look. "I don't know what you have been doing in the past years to suppress it, but you need a new method. It's not working, and tell me, if you lose control, who will protect the innocent humans? Given that you don't trust me."

He opened his mouth to retort but no words were enunciated. He knew his fate if he let this continue. He didn't want to admit it, acknowledge it. He had been fighting this war for years and recently, it had gotten worse. Worst was to come and he didn't want to go on a human killing spree, hurting innocent humans and destroying their families. Then there will be more victims like him.

"... I'm descending to that phase, huh?"

"I never witnessed it but from what I heard, you seem dangerously close." She really wanted to help him but didn't know how. All she could offer at the moment was a comforting hand on the shoulder or a hug but she knew he wouldn't accept either of them.

"Besides blood, are there no other options?" he hoarsely asked.

"Can humans survive without water?" she asked back

Pushing himself off the floor, he pinched the bridge of his nose. His body and mind were at war with one another. One yearned to end its suffering while the other begged not to become the monster that had bit him. "I would rather die than become a blood-sucker." He locked his gaze at her.

"Is that what it comes down to?" she sadly asked, disappointed that her talk with him was futile. His gaze didn't waver. "...I see. Well, I'll be taking my leave now, you can have your living room back." She then swiped all her homework and books into her messenger bag and walked out of the room but not without saying, "If you ever change your mind, you know where to find us."

**.**

* * *

**.**

"Ne, is there anything we can do to help him?"

The question was out of both curiosity and concern; Yuuki tucked her hands under her pillow, reveling in the smoothness of the fabric. It had been another hectic day with controlling the Day Class' hype, patrolling the vast campus, handling minor disputes among her class—usually spurred by Hanabusa, running errands for the ever buoyant Headmaster, and studying for her upcoming atrocious exams. Her plate was getting full yet she kept her mouth in silence for she knew her mate had it worse with dealing greater, more complicated matters.

She turned to her mate, who was comfortably lying across the bed.

He returned her gaze, steady and impassive. It took a while before he merely arched an eyebrow at her and prompted, "Why the sudden interest?"

"What, jealous?" she scooted closer to him, innocents eyes peering up through her long curly eyelashes.

"Should I be?" He lifted himself up a little, resting his fist under the side of his head.

"Maybe," she made idle patterns on the soft linen with her fingertips, "though what are the chances that this man will sweep me off my feet and snag me from you if he hates the core of my very existence?" She let out an audible sigh, clearly upset that someone had refused her proposal of friendship.

"He hates everyone," he reassured her.

"He hates vampires," she corrected him, gesturing a hand between them, "which means us. We are like vermin to him… Are we that despicable?"

Sensing her dejected spirit, he reeled her into his embrace and kissed the crown of her head. He knew how that felt. To offer abundant kindness from the depths of your heart only to be rewarded by rejection and repulsion because you were _different_.

Good heart, good return. That was one of the mottos that Yuuki said and believed since she was a child. _How naïve_, he thought when he first heard it… yet the more he thought about it, the world might be a better place if everybody heeded to it.

"Never have I felt…so loathed… I do pity him." She buried her head into his shirt, inhaling his scent of dark amber and black orchid along with a note of ginger lily. She never got tired of his scent; it made her feel relaxed and calm. "Ne, maybe you should spend more time with him, get him to open up… 'Bromance' as the Day Class says it. I've seen the guys playing sports together and bonding over that." She could envisage the scene, both men stiffly kicking the ball back and forth while she and Hanabusa would cheerfully root for him with colorful pom-poms. There was also scenario number two where the two men would horribly abuse the poor ball as they engage in a fierce competition. This was never going to happen.

"Now, wouldn't you get jealous?"

"Should I be?"

"What merit would I gain?"

"A thing called friendship," she mumbled into his chest. "The more friends, the merrier. Who knows, maybe he can play chess with you... Might come handy in the future." Her innocence tone sunk slightly as she thought of how other purebloods manipulated and used others for their own benefit. She didn't want that curse fall upon her; her friends were more than pawns and bishops to her.

He hummed in agreement; he wanted that loathful hunter on his board of chess. He saw potential and use of him especially how he was already caught in the webs of purebloods. As much as he despised the hunter with the threat that Yuuki might grow attach to him, he was willing to make the risk because nothing mattered more than her safety.

"Anyways... Is there anything that we can do to halt or slow down the process of him becoming a mindless vamp?" She chewed her lower lip, remembering all the tales that Hanabusa shared with her when he reached the age where he had to carry out his noble duty of exterminating Level E's. They were completely irrational and ludicrous, acting from their primal instincts. All they cared was the blood vessels under a person's skin.

"You should know."

The words weren't scolding, they were the truth.

"Drink from thy master."

That was definitely going to be a problem for Zero. For one, he detested Shizuka so much to the point that he would slay her before her overpowering scent could even reach and seduce his senses. For two, no one knew about Shizuka's whereabouts since that incident occurred.

"... No substitute?"

"Temporary relief, short-term."

"But his body rejects the tablets..." She craned her head backwards, confusion bearing on her face. "Does that mean... He's consuming actual blood... But that would be impossible?" Her eyes rapidly widening a fraction.

"Yuuki, we shouldn't pry in other people's businesses," he gently admonished. "We all have needs, believe it or not but some of our fellow classmates have engaged in... Let's call it replenishment of red blood cells with each other. I sense, hear, and sometimes see." He ran his hands up on her sides, resting at her shoulders. She was not that alarmed at the minor revelation, blood tablets could never be a permanent replacement. "I let these pass as long as it is between vampires and no human is involved. As you know, we have classmates who have mated and drinking blood is our way of bonding."

"And to ask them to abstain would be painful…"

"Are you capable of it?"

"No," she answered frankly. It was an addiction, drinking a beloved's blood and quenching the endless feeling of thirst. The ecstasy that came with it along with the connection of empathy. Memories and thoughts that they wanted to privately share. She did feel rather weak that she had to succumb to this need but that was their lifestyle. "That would be most difficult... But Zero's case is different," she pressed on.

In response, he released his hold on her and detached himself from her. "Hm, looks like my dear Yuuki is very concerned with this vampire hunter," he commented, a tad sad that the hunter was the star of their conversation tonight. "And my presence is no longer needed or wanted." He slowly rose up from his cozy position and moved towards the bed's edge.

She quietly watched him, observing if he was faking the indifference and jealously. She almost believed that she had talked too much about Zero but forgone that idea go when she noticed how long it was taking him to unravel himself from the thin and normally unintimidating blankets that he could just yank or tear.

Smilingly, she quickly followed his actions and pulled him back as he was about to straighten up. She leaned her head on the crook of his neck and explained, "I just pity him, he seems very lonely."

Loneliness, he also knew how that felt, after all it was his best friend for the past thousands of years on that hollow journey before his awakening.

"Like us, he had lost his parents." Her heart drowned a little at the memory, unconsciously her grip tighten. "But unlike us, he had no one to share and ease the pain… That is why I only want to be his friend and nothing more. I promise," she reassured him, knowing that he wasn't particularly fond when she gave too much attention to other people or in other words sharing her attention, but he must learn. "My heart beats only for you, I belong to you," she whispered. Two small kisses followed, strengthening her words, and left the familiar tingling sensation on the tiny exposure of his back.

A small flush graced her porcelain cheeks for vocalizing such a mushy statement.

In the eyes of most antiquated vampires, her existence was solely created for him. To be his mate and a mother to their descendants, those were duties chained to her since birth.

Yet, she didn't see it that way. There were no silvery shackles binding her to him, he never forced her to love him. She had done that through free-will. She wanted to be his best friend, companion, and lover on this endless journey on earth.

Twisting his torso around and meeting her eyes full of devotion, he stroke his thumb against the corner of her rosy lips. Just like her blood, he never got tired of claiming them as his own. He let his hand slide down to her chin and tipped it up to show how he felt.

They shared a chaste kiss, short and simple yet promising more to come. With his hands resting on her midriff, he gently laid her on the mattress and pushed stray hair strands away from her serene face. He sometimes wondered how on earth could this vampire beneath him, who was supposed to be doomed for instigating bloodshed and war among others, pertained such a warm pure heart—let alone belonged to him.

His teasing lips occasionally shifted from angle to angle above hers, too masochistically absorbed that a rogue monster like him shouldn't even deserve a glance from this angelic creature. When he finally decided to make the dive, she slyly turned her head towards the left, leaving his parted lips hanging and feeling the empty cool air.

A mite of surprise slipped his well-guarded stoic demeanor but it dissolved when she faced him with a contagious smile that he soon found himself mirroring. Another vain attempt was made when her hand came in between their mouths.

"Kaname... If we continue, we will be stuck here for a long, long time," she explained for her dodging manner.

"I don't mind."

"I don't mind either." Her other hand wandered up to caress his cheek, to show he was still wanted and he inclined his head affectionately against it. "But your mistress will certainly mind."

"My mistress?" he mused.

"Ichiou-san." She earned a chuckle from him. "Who knew you had a thing for blond. Should I change my hair color to that?" she joked, letting her shield go down. "Anyways, seriously," she drawled out the syllables, "your meeting with the council awaits and you had your daily dose of love earlier."

"And what happens if I believe the dose is insufficient?" his nose nuzzled hers.

Her breath almost hitched at the sudden proximity. She nearly had forgotten his persistent nature. "Come back early then," she answered, beginning to find it arduous in swallowing the excess saliva building in her mouth. His charm was undeniably working and she pouted. "I don't want the council to disturb my slumber by calling me in the wee hours of sunrise for interrogation and possibly rallying up a search team for the missing pureblood prince."

"You have quite of an imagination there," he remarked.

"Be productive," she urged.

"I am," he answered defensively, "I'm courting my mate." He demonstrated by stealing a kiss from her clueless state. "Project: Pureblood Procreation," he murmured into her ear that was getting warm from his tickling hot breaths. A resounding metal click bounced off the wall as he lowly whispered, "Just in case of unwanted _intruders_."

The scenario was becoming far too familiar. He was mercilessly teasing her just like last time after the night of her soirée.

"Oniisama!" she released out a whiny outburst, swatting her hand on his shoulder. He should have known that this was a rather sensitive topic, requiring delicacy. Besides, that was nowhere near romantic enough of a prelude for procreation—not that she fantasized about it but she did secretly think that it would come naturally through body language with him. No need to verbally state the intention or ask for permission. Just show the way.

She folded her arms across her bosom in attempted aggravation. "No procreation until I reach my hundredth birthday." It was a pale white lie; she knew she was going to cave in for completing their family soon. Most likely after the ideal roots of the Academy have been firmly planted and secured.

"The earlier the better as the humans say. Didn't Sayori mention that?"

"We are vampires, we shouldn't worry and that was what you said few nights ago. Mother had us when she was well past two thousand years old and we turned out fine," she said. "Thus, there's no hurry, we have eternity."

Sadness flicked over his eyes, it was a comical contradiction that as a vampire, he felt he was running out of time. The plans he had to carry out, his devoir of keeping Yuuki safe forever by fulfilling the hooded lady's wish...

Yuuki's wary eyes caught the few seconds of sadness, not comprehending why he was so bothered by her statement. One thing for sure, she didn't like seeing her beloved brooding. "Ne…you know I was kidding right?" She touched his shoulder, the spot that lingered her amorous marks earlier. "We can have…little Kurans…running around back at home in the next decade or so."

A motherly smile shone on her face, she could envision them, holding hands and giggling. Happy and carefree. "Hopefully twins, one boy and one girl, so I only have to go through pregnancy once because from what I heard and witnessed from Hanabusa's sister... the side effects dampen the joy. Did you know that it took many nights for Kiyomi's arrival?" Her ears still perfectly retained those piercing screams from Aidou's eldest sister, who was often praised for her courtly manners but completely lost her willpower to maintain her dainty reputation as she entered into labor.

Thus, Yuuki couldn't possibly fathom what it would be like for her as a pureblood, for it must be somewhat correlated to why there were so few of them left. "Anyways," she geared the conversation back to crafting their ideal family, "Then like me, they would probably be evading from my lovely etiquette teacher, Michiru-san. Hanabusa or I would then have to chase them down for misbehaving. You, on the other hand, would be spoiling them rotten, especially our future daughter."

Kaname snapped out of his trance upon hearing those words, he appreciated that she was distracting his sadness by painting their future family's portrait in his mind. "And surely you will pamper our future son," he managed to counter, letting his mask slip back into place.

"What can I say? He's going to take after you, a mini-Kaname is too adorable," she lightly squealed, happy that she successfully diverted his attention. Her leg also took advantage of his unguarded state and snaked around his waist. "He will be my little pampered prince."

"But I thought I was your prince?" he faked a frown.

"By then, you will be too old for that, you will be my king." Her leg secured the grip and in a flash, she was on top of him. "And my king needs to attend his meeting," she reminded kindly, disengaging herself and stepping away before he got the chance to say something such as they should practice on Project: Pureblood Procreation.

Shaking his head while grinning, he had taken a liking of this seldom boldness and playfulness that she unveiled. She definitely was gradually maturing into a young and confident lady, knowing her place and duties yet still able to preserve innocence twinkling from time to time. Just like a blue jay learning how to fly, there would be times where she would struggle in sustaining the thunderstorms of life. As long as he existed, he vowed that he would attentively be by her side and shield her from the claws of others.

Sometimes though, the bestial side of him aspired to tear her wandering wings and lock her up in a cage. That way, she would be safe forever… but that would entail enduring millennia of hatred from her. Appallingly, he didn't mind the hatred, clinging to the notion that he was not worthy of her love, but he knew he wouldn't be able to stand seeing her vitality withering away with nothing to do but live a meaningless life, deprived of happiness. He was well-aware that her dream was to follow her mother's footsteps, bringing humans and vampires closer. She was determined to reap the fruits of coexistence from Cross Academy.

"Now, where are you going?" He reluctantly sat up, his eyes lazily following her receding form. "You do know that this is your bedroom."

"And that is why I'm going to your bedroom," she replied without delay. "Besides, it's awfully unfair that you always leave first and I've to pine for your return, so it's finally my turn!" She animatedly held up her index finger.

He only blinked in response.

"Now… be a good boy." The tone and softness of her feature stroke a chord of his heart, in that very moment, she greatly resembled the decreased hooded lady, her white chemise and half-braided hair. "Go early and leave early. I'll go warm up your bed now." She winked.

**.**

* * *

**.**

**Sneak Preview I - Picnic Day **

He watched her from far away, tuning out of what his friends were grumbling, something about the sun being too blazing hot or how nasty were their soggy sandwiches or how they ran out of sunscreen.

Yuuki was seated with the Day Class girls, sipping her tea and occasionally nodding in response of their gossip and funny stories. She looked fitting under the sunlight, the rays dancing off her exposed skin and dress, radiating her beauty. She had temporarily taken off her sunglasses and relied on her straw hat to shade her eyes.

He admired her initiative behavior towards co-existence with the Day Class. So far, she was the very first one from their class to approach the side where the Day Class was quietly eating. After few minutes of name exchanges and greetings, the Day Class girls and Yuuki immediately were laughing and having a great time.

Yuuki certainly did blend well with the humans; she looked like a Day Class girl with her bubbly personality. _She truly belonged to the daylight…no wonder Juuri wanted to turn her into human,_ he thought.

**Sneak Preview II – Fan Mail (Bonus, this got way too long) **

"Surely, you have a fair share as well. Now where did you hide them?" She straddled him in his chair, looking up and down at his alabaster uniform. There were quite a number of pockets, two she knew would be unable to search unless he stood up as they were on the rear side.

Squinting her eyes and pursing her lips, she started her inspection by patting down the front pockets of his jacket and pants.

He complied with her search for the fan letters or love letters she claimed by calmly leaning back against the chair, confident that he would be not charged as guilty. He always politely declined those letters from the Day Class girls and if he did find them on his desk, he would hand them off to his Vice President or Akatsuki to take care of them.

The light patting soon changed to rummaging his pockets, she was surprised that she was unable to find even lint. He was very clean.

"Yuuki..."

She ignored his call and said, "But I thought... I saw you stuff something in here." She laid her hand on his chest. It was a white envelope. "Ah," she softly exclaimed, "inside." She unbuttoned his jacket and smiled when she saw the hidden pockets but it faded when her hands came up empty.

"Yuuki." He closed his eyes, concentrating on the evenness on his breathing that was going to be erratic if she didn't stop.

"Hm, unless..." Her hands roamed around his black dress shirt, checking to see if there were any possible pockets.

That was the last straw.

Kaname couldn't take it anymore, her touches were arousing his bestial instincts, and grasped her wandering hands. If she didn't stop her ministrations, he was afraid that he would do something regrettable and hurt her. "Yuuki, when did you learn to be so provocative? Didn't Michiru teach you that a lady should not touch a man like this until marriage?"

A burning sensation swept over her cheeks, she was madly flushing and didn't realize that her actions were inappropriate. Naturally, she pulled back and proceeded to get off him. "I-I-I am so-sorry," she horribly stuttered. "I-I di-didn't me-me-an to..."

He let her believe that she was off the hook until the last second when she was about to turn around, he trapped her on the desk.

She felt papers underneath her and smelt a strong sense of ink around her.

"I was kidding," he brought her knuckles up to his lips and kissed them, "I enjoy your touch but... I'm going to lose control if you keep doing that."

"...Then, lose control."

**.**  
**.**

* * *

**Authoress' Note:** And that concludes this lengthy chapter. I hope you readers liked that. As you probably notice, Yuuki was slightly mature in this chapter, especially with her speeches. Let's see if her actions say otherwise. Also, I know I'm lacking some Zeki scenes, so I should be focusing on Zero a little more in the next chapter—mainly his perspective of Yuuki and what/who he has been relying on for the past few years to stay alive. By the way, the whole 'wager' thing between Yuuki and Kaname, please feel free to suggest any punishments for the loser. I haven't thought of any yet.

Hm, and what do you think is going on with Hanabusa and Ruka? Their talk of "feelings"?

Was that enough Kuran fluff? I know I have been really teasing with their fluffs, they are just too fun to write. What I wouldn't give to actually write little Kurans… I really would like to write about that...

Alrighty, it's well past midnight over here and I've to get up early for work tomorrow (super long day, I've to stay late, I'm definitely going to suffer. I've been lacking sleep). Please review and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed.

May 1, 2013


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